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Behavior, Psychology and Sociology

Two genetic analyses to elucidate causality between body mass index and personality

International Journal of Obesity volume 45, pages 2244–2251 (2021)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Background/objectives

Many personality traits correlate with BMI, but the existence and direction of causal links between them are unclear. If personality influences BMI, knowing this causal direction could inform weight management strategies. Knowing that BMI instead influences personality would contribute to a better understanding of the mechanisms of personality development and the possible psychological effects of weight change. We tested the existence and direction of causal links between BMI and personality.

Subjects/methods

We employed two genetically informed methods. In Mendelian randomization, allele scores were calculated to summarize genetic propensity for the personality traits neuroticism, worry, and depressive affect and used to predict BMI in an independent sample (N = 3 541). Similarly, an allele score for BMI was used to predict eating-specific and domain-general phenotypic personality scores (PPSs; aggregate scores of personality traits weighted by BMI). In a direction of causation (DoC) analysis, twin data from five countries (N = 5424) were used to assess the fit of four alternative models: PPSs influencing BMI, BMI influencing PPSs, reciprocal causation, and no causation.

Results

In Mendelian randomization, the allele score for BMI predicted domain-general (β = 0.05; 95% CI: 0.02, 0.08; P = 0.003) and eating-specific PPS (β = 0.06; 95% CI: 0.03, 0.09; P < 0.001). The allele score for worry also predicted BMI (β = −0.05; 95% CI: −0.08, −0.02; P < 0.001), while those for neuroticism and depressive affect did not (P ≥ 0.459). In DoC, BMI similarly predicted domain-general (β = 0.21; 95% CI:, 0.18, 0.24; P < 0.001) and eating-specific personality traits (β = 0.19; 95% CI:, 0.16, 0.22; P < 0.001), suggesting causality from BMI to personality traits. In exploratory analyses, links between BMI and domain-general personality traits appeared reciprocal for higher-weight individuals (BMI > ~25).

Conclusions

Although both genetic analyses suggested an influence of BMI on personality traits, it is not yet known if weight management interventions could influence personality. Personality traits may influence BMI in turn, but effects in this direction appeared weaker.

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Fig. 1: The analytic process.
Fig. 2: A graphical summary of the main findings.

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Code availability

Code for the analyses is available at https://osf.io/meqxn/.

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Acknowledgements

UV has been funded by Estonian Research Council grant MOBTP94. Supplementary information is available at International Journal of Obesity’s website and at https://osf.io/preprints/nutrixiv/q8ehr/.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia

    Kadri Arumäe, René Mõttus & Uku Vainik

  2. University of Illinois, Champaign, IL, USA

    Daniel Briley

  3. QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute Brisbane, Brisbane, QLD, Australia

    Lucía Colodro-Conde

  4. University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark

    Erik Lykke Mortensen & Thorkild I. A. Sørensen

  5. University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada

    Kerry Jang

  6. Keio University, Tokyo, Japan

    Juko Ando

  7. University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany

    Christian Kandler

  8. Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada

    Alain Dagher & Uku Vainik

  9. University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland

    René Mõttus

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  1. Kadri Arumäe
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Arumäe, K., Briley, D., Colodro-Conde, L. et al. Two genetic analyses to elucidate causality between body mass index and personality. Int J Obes 45, 2244–2251 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41366-021-00885-4

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