Health consciousness of young people in relation to their personality

Personality of targeted individuals can be assumed to influence behavior modification by health education. In this study the influence of personality on health consciousness was analyzed by a questionnaire for lifestyle, health consciousness, and the NEO-FFI personality test. Subjects were 942 new students in the Tokyo University of Agriculture who were surveyed in April, 1998. Separately performed health examination data were used to verify reliability of answers to the questionnaire. Among students, 83.2% of males and 90.4% of females felt themselves to be healthy, and more than 80% students desired to improve their health more. The rate of having no physical complaints, however, was only 31.7% in males and 20.4% in females. Distribution of NEO-FFI scores of neuroticism (N), extraversion (E), openness (O), agreeableness (A), and conscientiousness (C) corresponded well between males and females, except for significantly higher scores of O and A in females. Odds ratios (ORs) between high and low tertial points of NEO-FFI score for health consciousness were significantly elevated in the high scoring groups of E and C (OR = 6.26, 95% CI = 1.46-26.82, and OR = 6.04, 95% CI = 1.42-25.71, respectively) in males. On the contrary, high N and O groups had low health consciousness. Smoking habit was associated with high E scores (OR = 2.24, 95% CI = 1.13-4.43). Dietary habits, regular eating time, and avoidance of salty foods were associated with high C scores in both males and females. The OR of regular eating time was 2.66 (95% CI = 1.42-1.98), and 2.20 (95% CI = 1.31-3.71) for males and females, respectively. The OR of avoidance of salty foods were 2.09 (95% CI = 1.11-3.91), 1.87 (95% CI = 1.11-3.16) for males and females, respectively. Significant associations between lifestyle and personality require further study for risk association analysis and for relationship to interventive practices for prevention of lifestyle associated diseases.