Associations between body weight and personality disorders in a nationally representative sample

Area of Science:

• Psychiatry
• Psychology
• Public Health

Background:

• Personality functioning is theorized to correlate with body weight.
• Empirical research on the association between body weight and personality disorders is limited.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the relationship between various body weight categories and the prevalence of personality disorders in the general population.
• To determine if abnormal body weight is associated with higher odds of personality disorders compared to normal weight.

Main Methods:

• Utilized data from the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC) (n = 43,093).
• Examined five body mass index (BMI) categories: underweight, normal, overweight, obese, and extremely obese.
• Assessed lifetime prevalence of paranoid, schizoid, antisocial, histrionic, avoidant, dependent, and obsessive-compulsive personality disorders using the AUDADIS-IV.

Main Results:

• Extreme obesity correlated with antisocial or avoidant PDs (AOR 1.66-1.73).
• Underweight was linked to increased odds of schizoid PD (AOR 1.89).
• Gender-specific patterns emerged: overweight men had lower odds of paranoid PD, while women with higher-than-normal weight showed increased odds of paranoid, antisocial, and avoidant PDs.

Conclusions:

• Higher body weight in women is associated with paranoid, antisocial, and avoidant PDs.
• Overweight men exhibited lower rates of paranoid PD.
• Underweight individuals, particularly women, showed a higher likelihood of developing schizoid PD.