The Big Five and eating disorders: A prospective study in the general population

The present study assessed the Big-Five personality dimensions according to the lexical hypothesis among participants with a lifetime history of eatin g disorders (ED) (n = 84), as well as participants with a first-time incide nce of ED (n = 33) compared to participants with no history of ED (non-ED, n = 1014). Personality and ED were investigated with self-report questionna ires among women (n = 1157) randomly selected from the general population. Participants with a lifetime ED reported significantly: lower levels of Agr eeableness, Conscientiousness, Emotional Stability, and a significantly hig her level of Openness compared to the non-ED. When Emotional Stability was controlled for, participants with ED scored higher on Openness compared to controls. Participants were followed up after two years. Thirty-three parti cipants with complete data on all the scales developed an eating disorder f or the first time at follow-np. This first-time incidence group had a very similar pattern of personality prior to developing any symptoms of ED (i.e. low on Agreeableness and Emotional Stability, find high on Openness) to th ose with a lifetime history of ED, and significantly different from those w ho never reported arty symptoms of ED (controls, n = 636). This pattern res embles the Type 3 personality according to Caspi and colleagues. It is sugg ested that the presence of some specific personality traits may be regarded as a risk factor for developing ED. Copyright (C) 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.