That’s the conclusion by researchers from the US National Institute on Aging, who studied 50 years of data on people enrolled in the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging, an ongoing multidisciplinary study of normal aging.
The researchers looked at personality traits of nearly 2000 people to identify ones that would affect whether a person’s weight went up or remained stable as the person aged.
While a certain amount of weight gain is common in aging, the researchers found that impulsivity was the strongest predictor of who would become overweight or even obese, Study participants who scored in the top 10 percent on impulsivity weighed an average of 11 kgs (22 lbs) more than those in the bottom 10 percent, according to the study.
Impulsiveness Predisposes To Over-Eating
The team, led by Angelina R. Sutin, PhD, found greater weight gain among impulsive people; those who enjoy taking risks; and those who are antagonistic. It was most noticeable among those who are cynical, competitive and aggressive.
“To the best of our knowledge, we are the first to examine whether personality is associated with fluctuations in weight over time,” Dr Sutin wrote in the study, published online in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.
“Previous research has found that impulsive individuals are prone to binge eating and alcohol consumption,”she said. “These behavioral patterns may contribute to weight gain over time. Interestingly, our pattern of associations fits nicely with the characteristics of these traits.”
Personality Affects Body Image and Weight Management
“Personality traits contribute to health outcomes, in part through their association with major controllable risk factors, such as obesity,” Dr Sutin wrote. “Body weight, in turn, reflects our behaviors and lifestyle and contributes to the way we perceive ourselves and others.”
Study participants were tested on five personality traits: openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness and neuroticism – and these traits were divided into 30 sub-categories. At the same time, participants had their BMI, body fat, waist circumference and hip circumference measured.
“Measured concurrently, participants higher on Neuroticism or Extraversion or lower on Conscientiousness had higher BMI; these associations replicated across body fat, waist, and hip circumference,” Dr Sutin noted.
“The strongest association was found for the impulsivity facet: Participants who scored in the top 10% of impulsivity weighed, on average, 11Kg more than those in the bottom 10%.”
On the other hand, conscientious participants tended to be leaner, and weight did not contribute to changes in personality across adulthood.
Understanding Personality Could Help with Weight Management
Understanding what types of personalities were more likely to have trouble sticking to a diet, and gain weight over their lifetime. could assist in finding better ways to help people to manage their weight.
“Personality traits are defined by cognitive, emotional, and behavioral patterns that likely contribute to unhealthy weight and difficulties with weight management,” Dr Sutin wrote. “Such associations may elucidate the role of personality traits in disease progression and may help to design more effective interventions.” Such interventions could be specifically designed to be attractive to more extroverted people.
“The pathway from personality traits to weight gain is complex and probably includes physiological mechanisms, in addition to behavioral ones,” Dr Sutin said. “We hope that by more clearly identifying the association between personality and obesity, more tailored treatments will be developed. For example, lifestyle and exercise interventions that are done in a group setting may be more effective for extroverts than for introverts.”
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Sue Cartledge - I'm a science, health, nutrition and lifestyle journalist, fascinated by the way the physical world operates in all its forms, and how ...
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