To examine the cross-sectional associations between personality and adiposity, we selected the first personality assessment and the adiposity measures collected at that same visit. A total of 1,960 participants had anthropometric measures at the same visit as their first personality assessment. We tested for mean-level differences in personality across the three BMI categories using multivariate analysis of covariance with BMI category as the classifying variable (normal weight, overweight, obese) and controlling for sex, age, age squared, ethnicity, and education. We used post hoc tests (LSD) to contrast the normal weight group with the overweight and obese groups. We then tested whether sex and age moderated the association between personality and BMI category. In addition to categorical differences, we correlated personality with the continuous measure of BMI and three additional adiposity measures (waist and hip circumference, and body fat), controlling for the same set of covariates.
