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Health Education Research Advance Access originally published online on March 21, 2005
Health Education Research 2005 20(6):635-644; doi:10.1093/her/cyh025
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© The Author 2005. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Is personality related to fruit and vegetable intake and physical activity in adolescents?

Gert-Jan de Bruijn1, Stef P. J. Kremers1, Willem van Mechelen2 and Johannes Brug3

1 Department of Health Education and Health Promotion, University of Maastricht, 6200 MD Maastricht, 2 VU University Medical Centre, Department of Social Medicine and EMGO Institute, 1007 MB Amsterdam and 3 Department of Public Health, Erasmus University Medical Centre, 3000 DR Rotterdam, The Netherlands

Correspondence to: G. J. de Bruijn; E-mail: gjdebruijn{at}gvo.unimaas.nl

Personality is regarded as a distal determinant of health behavior and has been found to be associated with health behavior in young adults. Research investigating the association between personality and health behaviors in adolescents, however, is lacking. The present study explored the direct associations between Big Five personality dimensions with fruit and vegetable consumption and physical activity (PA) in two Dutch adolescent samples [Sample 1: n = 504; mean age = 14.5 years (SD = 1.7); response rate 20%; Sample 2: n = 476; mean age = 14.9 (SD = 2.0); response rate 17%]. Behavioral outcomes and personality were assessed with validated self-administered questionnaires. Bivariate correlations and multiple regression analyses were conducted, and Cohen's effect sizes were used to interpret the associations found. Agreeableness was positively associated with vegetable consumption, while Openness to Experience was positively associated with fruit consumption and vegetable consumption. Extraversion was positively associated with sports-related PA. Standardized regression coefficients for personality dimensions ranged from 0.09 to 0.13, explaining 3–6% of variance in behavior, indicating small effect sizes. Our results suggest that personality dimensions are associated with fruit and vegetable consumption and sports-related PA in adolescents. Future research should explore possible mediators between personality and health behavior in adolescents.


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