Self-Reported Exercise Frequency and Personality: A Population-Based Study in Japan

Abstract

This study of relationships between personality and exercise frequency was based on 22,448 residents (40 to 64 years old) in Miyagi, Japan. They completed the self-administered questionnaires on their exercise frequency and the Japanese version of the short form Eysenck Personality Questionnaire-Revised. Higher scores on Extraversion were positively related to exercising and higher scores on Neuroticism and Psychoticism were positively related to “not exercising” in a general population for both sexes. These observed relationships were consistent even when an analysis of covariance was conducted with controlling for possible confounding factors of age, marital status, and education.