Personality variables in people with obesity

Abstract

Obesity remains one of the leading preventable causes of death worldwide. Its prevalence accelerates and exhibits a trend to increase more rapidly than overweight. Obesity is linked to diabetes, heart and vascular diseases, most cancers and a greater chronic and infectious disease burden. Risk factors for obesity are varied, with genetic background, physical activity, sleep quantity and quality, diet, and sociological, economic, environmental aspects among the most frequently mentioned. Psychological factors, especially those related to personality, also remain an important cause underlying the development and persistence of obesity. In this review of studies, significant differences in the intensity of personality dimensions were observed between obese and non-obese people, especially in the level of neuroticism, conscientiousness, extraversion, and openness to experience. The aim of the review was to discuss the correlations of specific personality traits in patients with obesity. High levels of neuroticism and low levels of conscientiousness are recurring findings across the studies. In this summary, attention is also given to other personality traits. It was noted that extraversion and openness to experience distinguished obese people from the general population, but without a clear positive or negative association – the cited studies show a statistically significant correlation between the levels of body mass index and these two personality dimensions, but the direction of the correlation is not uniform across the studies. Considering the above observations, it is possible that there are important differences in the obese population, as clinical experience shows that the group is homogeneous neither in the areas of physical health nor in the area of styles of coping with stress, which may be significant for determining the association with personal traits. The findings of the review show that the analysis of the relationships between personality traits in obese people can be an important factor in the diagnosis and follow-up of these patients.