Distinct personality profiles associated with disease risk and diagnostic status in eating disorders

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Contributors

  • King's College London (KCL)
  • Free University of Berlin
  • University of Southampton
  • University of Galway
  • Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland
  • Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin
  • Northeastern University
  • MSB Medical School Berlin Hochschule für Gesundheit und Medizin
  • University College London
  • Heidelberg University 
  • Trinity College Dublin
  • Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt
  • Université Paris-Saclay
  • University of Vermont
  • University of Nottingham
  • École normale supérieure Paris-Saclay
  • University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein Campus Kiel
  • University of Montreal
  • University of Toronto
  • University of Göttingen
  • Fudan University
  • South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust
  • Berlin Institute of Health at Charité

Abstract

Background: Personality traits have been associated with eating disorders (EDs) and comorbidities. However, it is unclear which personality profiles are premorbid risk rather than diagnostic markers. Methods: We explored associations between personality and ED-related mental health symptoms using canonical correlation analyses. We investigated personality risk profiles in a longitudinal sample, associating personality at age 14 with onset of mental health symptoms at ages 16 or 19. Diagnostic markers were identified in a sample of young adults with anorexia nervosa (AN, n = 58) or bulimia nervosa (BN, n = 63) and healthy controls (n = 47). Results: Two significant premorbid risk profiles were identified, successively explaining 7.93 % and 5.60 % of shared variance (Rc2). The first combined neuroticism (canonical loading, rs = 0.68), openness (rs = 0.32), impulsivity (rs = 0.29), and conscientiousness (rs = 0.27), with future onset of anxiety symptoms (rs = 0.87) and dieting (rs = 0.58). The other, combined lower agreeableness (rs = −0.60) and lower anxiety sensitivity (rs = −0.47), with future deliberate self-harm (rs = 0.76) and purging (rs = 0.55). Personality profiles associated with “core psychopathology” in both AN (Rc2 = 80.56 %) and BN diagnoses (Rc2 = 64.38 %) comprised hopelessness (rs = 0.95, 0.87) and neuroticism (rs = 0.93, 0.94). For BN, this profile also included impulsivity (rs = 0.60). Additionally, extraversion (rs = 0.41) was associated with lower depressive risk in BN. Limitations: The samples were not ethnically diverse. The clinical cohort included only females. There was non-random attrition in the longitudinal sample. Conclusions: The results suggest neuroticism and impulsivity as risk and diagnostic markers for EDs, with neuroticism and hopelessness as shared diagnostic markers. They may inform the design of more personalised prevention and intervention strategies.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)146-155
Number of pages10
JournalJournal of Affective Disorders
Volume360
Publication statusPublished - 1 Sept 2024
Peer-reviewedYes

External IDs

PubMed 38810783
ORCID /0000-0001-5398-5569/work/161890802
ORCID /0000-0002-8493-6396/work/161891674

Keywords

Keywords

  • Comorbidity, Diagnostic marker, Eating disorders, Personality, Risk factor, Neuroticism, Impulsive Behavior, Anxiety Disorders/psychology, Bulimia Nervosa/psychology, Humans, Feeding and Eating Disorders/psychology, Risk Factors, Male, Anorexia Nervosa/psychology, Young Adult, Adolescent, Female, Adult, Anxiety/psychology, Longitudinal Studies