Gender differences in the relationship between personality dimensions and relative body weight.

OBJECTIVE: The relationship between body mass index (BMI: kg/m(2)) and personality seems to differ for men and women, although these effects may be driven by the extremes of the BMI distribution. It is unclear whether these associations exist for most individuals in the relatively normal range of BMI scores, excluding the thinnest and heaviest extremes in the population. We tested the association of BMI with neuroticism, extraversion, and psychoticism with a trimmed BMI sample. RESEARCH METHODS AND PROCEDURES: Using a cross-sectional design, we tested the association of BMI with the aforementioned psychological variables in a British population-based sample. Participants were 7889 adult men and women (30 to 50 years old) selectively sampled from four counties in west England. Participants reported their height and weight and completed the Eysenck Personality Inventory (EPQ). We tested the association of BMI with the EPQ subscales among individuals with BMI >or=19.16 kg/m(2) and