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How spontaneous or neurotic you are could dictate how much you weigh, says a new study.
Yes, that’s right -- type A personalities are more likely to have a higher BMI and impulse shoppers are more likely to go through cycles of losing and gaining weight, according to research recently published by the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.
In the first study of its kind, three researchers from the Department of Health and Human Services followed nearly 2,000 subjects over a 50-year life span. They found that those scoring high on the impulsivity scale were likely to be 11 kilograms (about 24 pounds) heavier than those on the lower end of that scale.
Which personality types are likely to be thin?
The researchers found those who scored high on the conscientiousness scale were likely to be leaner. They also found that those low on agreeableness “predicted a greater increase in the Body Mass Index across the adult life span.”
Essentially, the meaner you are, the likelier you are to gain weight as you age.
There have been previous studies linking impulsivity to weight gain -- although nothing on this scale. A 2006 study by Maastricht University of 26 obese children found that the most overweight children were also the most impulsive. Another study, published in 2008 by the University of Alabama, found that obese women had significantly lower impulse control than normal weight women, while a 1976 study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition similarly found that obese women were more likely to be “non-conforming and impulsive” than their non-obese peers.
03:38 PM on 7/21/2011
I don’t know. The nastiest older women I know are the thin ones.
03:45 PM on 7/21/2011
"I’m not fat, you’re just seeing the extra layers of my personality."
2 hours ago (7:18 AM)
and the victorians measured skulls to figure out what race was superior.
1. normans
2. anglo saxons
3. asian i think
4.african
5. australian
if i remember correctly. then there are hands. apparently you can tell a low person by their hand shape.
03:54 PM on 7/21/2011
How is this news? This guy Kretschmer has classified personality and body types in the early 20th century.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernst_Kretschmer
04:23 PM on 7/21/2011
Well maybe, if you’re 5’1" and almost 200 pounds. (totally kidding by the way)
03:57 PM on 7/21/2011
I am almost 200 pounds. I must be the devil!
04:19 PM on 7/21/2011
The idea that being nicer will help you lose weight is one that I believe should be encouraged.
12:04 AM on 7/23/2011
I’ve been fat and I’ve been thin. Thin is more jolly.
03:20 PM on 7/21/2011
That’s just Santa Claus
02:18 PM on 7/21/2011
I thought overweight people were supposed to be jolly!
03:07 PM on 7/21/2011
Don’t forget genetic pre-dispositions and maybe you can throw in some endocrine-disrupting chemicals in your early development, too.
I, too, will now have a piece of cake to celebrate all the wonderful it’s-not-my-faultness.
02:21 PM on 7/21/2011
Thank heavens! Now, I can blame it on my personality. Then, I can blame my personality on my parents and siblings and teachers and mentors. Of course, it probably had something to do with the surroundings in which I lived growing up during my formative years. I knew none of it was my fault. This has all just been some cosmic coming together of fat cells, and I really had very little control over the outcome — no matter what I did or how hard I tried. I am sooooooo relieved to know that it is not my fault. This makes me feel so good, I am going to have some cake to celebrate!
02:24 PM on 7/21/2011
My weight never varies…it’s too much, but it’s always the same.
02:24 PM on 7/21/2011
this is true BS…
03:10 PM on 7/21/2011
Genius!
02:30 PM on 7/21/2011
DAMN! No wonder I am so overweight. And the heavier I get, the meaner I get, and the Meaner I get, the Heavier I get and…
02:31 PM on 7/21/2011
More confusing association with cause and effect.
It’s time to stop publishing anything with the line "a new study shows…."
03:15 PM on 7/21/2011
Lucky B@sT@rd!
02:42 PM on 7/21/2011
I guess I’m the exception to the rule. nonconforming and impulsive, I gain and shed pounds whenever I want. It’s harder to gain than it is to lose however. I always assumed more outgoing personality types would be more physically fit. Guess I can thank good genes.
02:43 PM on 7/21/2011
I think, therefore I’m fat.
02:47 PM on 7/21/2011
What if you’re conscientious AND disagreeable?
03:24 PM on 7/21/2011
I didn’t think it made much sense either. I’m a type A as is a girlfriend of mine and we’re both lean but we’re also conscious of our bodies.
02:49 PM on 7/21/2011
I’m Type A and I think this study is bullspit.
And what the puck do you mean "mean" anyway? Sounds A-ist to me.
03:56 PM on 7/21/2011
That is true. However, chemicals responsible for our personal traits might affect impulse control and metabolism. Finding correlations is not the same as rejecting personal responsibility.
03:39 PM on 7/21/2011
You are right. Being a disagreeable person enables your body to defy the laws of thermal dynamics. Essentially, genetics trumps physics.
03:27 PM on 7/21/2011
That’s impossible. Then it would be everyone’s personal responsible to keep themselves from getting obese.
02:54 PM on 7/21/2011
This is funny!
There is always someone, some where who wants to find a "reason" some people gain weight.
Could be some just eat too much and exercise too little ?
Ah, no….of course not… that’s too simple ! LOL
02:57 PM on 7/21/2011
Wow. More garbage "science." I’d love to know who funded this study and for what purpose. Blame the personality, blame the eating patterns, blame anything but the types of food that people eat. Modern-day over-processed food and too many carbs and sugar couldn’t *possibly* be the cause of weight gain. Pshaw.
05:07 PM on 7/21/2011
now that made me put down my fork!!