Although we found that higher Neuroticism scores were consistently associated with greater weight, both across different ways of measuring adiposity and longitudinally as well as in the cross-sectional analyses, other studies have found the opposite relation (Bulik et al., 2006; Kakizaki et al., 2008). There may be at least two reasons for this discrepancy. First, there could be a curvilinear association between Neuroticism and weight; those high on Neuroticism may be particularly susceptible to abnormal weight, on either side of the BMI continuum. In the current research we did not find such a curvilinear effect, but we did not have enough underweight participants to sufficiently test this hypothesis. Second, different aspects of Neuroticism may share opposite relations with BMI. For example, impulsive individuals have a hard time controlling their urges, including the urge for extra helpings of food. In contrast, individuals high on self-consciousness or vulnerability may be much more sensitive about their weight (Swami, Hadji-Michael, & Furnham, 2008) and more restrictive in their eating (Heaven, Mulligan, Merrilees, Woods, & Fairooz, 2001). As such, the different emotional aspects of Neuroticism
