Lr. Goldberg et La. Strycker, Personality traits and eating habits: the assessment of food preferences in a large community sample, PERS INDIV, 32(1), 2002, pp. 49-65
The 48 dietary items from three popular eating surveys (the Kristal Food Ha
bits Questionnaire, Block Fiber Screener, and Block Fat Screener) were admi
nistered concurrently to a large community sample. To provide evidence of t
he hierarchical structure of these eating practices, both orthogonal and ob
lique factor rotations of from one to five factors are compared. Also provi
ded are the relations between dietary factors and gender, age, and educatio
n, as well as a broad set of personality attributes. Although self-reported
eating practices were not associated with educational level, intelligence,
nor various indices of psychopathology, they were related to the demograph
ic variables of gender and age: older participants reported eating more fib
er in their diets than did younger ones, and women reported more avoidance
of fats from meats than did men. When these demographic associations were s
tatistically controlled, we found an intriguing pattern of association with
measures of other health-related practices, vocational interests, and such
personality attributes as Openness to Experience and Conscientiousness. (C
) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.