Personality and overweight in 6-12-year-old children

Background: Personality may be an important yet understudied influence on childhood obesity. Objective: We investigated the association between children's personality traits and weight status in a sample of 1533 6-12 year olds. Methods: Mothers rated their child's personality using the Norwegian Hierarchical Personality Inventory for Children, and reported on their child's height and weight. Results: Relative to their normal weight peers, overweight children were rated lower on energy, optimism, compliance, concentration, perseverance, and self-confidence, and higher on egocentricity, irritability, and anxiety. Conclusions: These findings suggest possible mechanisms to investigate in future research relating personality to childhood obesity.