Personality traits and BMI trends over three years in Japanese university students.

Nozomi Fukuhara-Makiyama,Masakazu Kobayashi,Sayaka Ogawa,Masaki Hayashida,Mayumi Maeda,Ikuko Sagara,Susumu Shirabe,Angel Blanch

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0248833

Nozomi Fukuhara-Makiyama, Masakazu Kobayashi + Show 6 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0248833

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Journal: PloS one	Publication Date: Mar 22, 2021
Citations: 8	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: Nagasaki University

Abstract

In Europe and America, associations between personality traits and body-mass index (BMI) have been reported. However, in Japan, the association between personality traits and BMI (i.e., thinness and obesity) has not been well studied. In this study, we investigated the relationship between Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI) personality traits and changes in BMI status among Japanese students during their university attendance. We measured the height and weight of 5,340 students in a Japanese university during annual medical checkups and calculated their BMI. The students’ personality traits were measured using the short Japanese version of the TCI at university admission. The participants were divided into seven groups based on how BMI changed from the first year to the fourth year at university. In men, compared to the group that maintained normal BMI status (N = 2,189) over time (i.e., the control group), the group that maintained thinness status (N = 226) were lower in Reward Dependence, and the group whose status improved from thinness to normal (N = 117) were higher in Harm Avoidance. In women, compared with the control group (N = 1,510), the group that maintained thinness status (N = 302) was lower in Novelty Seeking, and the group whose status worsened from normal to thinness (N = 127) was higher in Harm Avoidance. Weak associations were found between thinness and TCI personality traits among Japanese university students. Further elaboration of the relationship between obesity or thinness and personality traits may help to provide effective preventive interventions in these areas.

Highlights

Both obesity and thinness are known to have detrimental effects on physical health
Based on the patterns of body-mass index (BMI) changes from the first year to the fourth year, the participants were classified into seven groups: 528 students in the TT group, 240 in the NT group, 3,699 in the NN group, 116 in the NO group, and 305 in the OO group
We conducted analysis of variance (ANOVA) separately for men and women to compare these groups in terms of raw data and tscores of each Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI) personality trait

Summary

Introduction

Both obesity and thinness are known to have detrimental effects on physical health. Obesity is related to increasing risks of other lifestyle-related diseases including heart disorder, cerebrovascular disease, diabetes, and arteriosclerosis. Thinness is related to increasing risks of undernutrition, amenorrhea, osteoporosis, and osteopenia [1]. In Japan, the prevalence of obesity and/or thinness has been increasing among university students, based on the Japanese definitions of obesity as a body-mass index (BMI) 25 kg/m2 and thinness as a BMI < 18.5 kg/m2.

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