ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Health Psychology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1634465
The association of Conscientiousness and Neuroticism on BMI and Health Behaviours: Exploring the impact of Healthy Neuroticism
Provisionally accepted
- 1Steno Diabetes Center Copenhagen (SDCC), Herlev, Denmark
- 2Department of psychology, Kobenhavns Universitet, Copenhagen, Denmark
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Background: Existing research in personality traits provides evidence of associations between Conscientiousness, Neuroticism and Body Mass Index (BMI), with a growing interest in the concept of Healthy Neuroticism. However, the associations are not fully understood, and the mitigating role of health behaviours remains insufficiently investigated. Methods: This cross-sectional study investigated associations between Neuroticism, Conscientiousness, including high and low scores, Healthy and Unhealthy Neuroticism with BMI, and the mediating effects of physical activity and caring about having a healthy and nutritious diet, in a national sample of 21,619 adults. Personality traits were assessed using the Big Five Inventory-10, and health behaviours via self-reported physical activity and attitudes towards a healthy and nutritious diet. Statistical analyses were conducted using Hayes PROCESS macro for mediation with 5,000 bootstrap samples. Results: The results demonstrated that Neuroticism and Unhealthy Neuroticism were positively associated with BMI, whereas Conscientiousness and Healthy Neuroticism showed negative associations. Health behaviours both fully and partially mediated the relationship between personality traits and BMI. Conclusion: These findings provide evidence for Healthy and Unhealthy Neuroticism in relation to BMI and health behaviours. Furthermore, findings demonstrate associations between Neuroticism, Conscientiousness and BMI, with physical activity, and diet awareness acting as mediators. Stratified analysis suggests that the role of educational level in these relationships likely reflects underlying differences in health behaviours.
Keywords: Big Five Personality Traits, neuroticism, conscientiousness, Healthy neuroticism, BMI, physical activity, Diet awareness
Received: 24 May 2025; Accepted: 22 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Pedersen, Sørensen, Ewers and Dammeyer. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Zandra Overgaard Pedersen, Steno Diabetes Center Copenhagen (SDCC), Herlev, Denmark
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