Cloninger's temperament and character traits in medical students of Korea with problem eating behaviors.
OBJECTIVE
The personality profiles of patients with eating disorder have been extensively investigated, but those of people in the general population with eating behavior problems need to be evaluated to assess the relationship between personality, health behavior and level of overall well-being in non-clinical samples.


METHODS
Temperament and character traits, reasons for over-eating, and the negative influence of functional dyspepsia on quality of life were measured by the Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI), Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire (DEBQ), and Functional Dyspepsia Quality of Life (FDQOL) inventory, respectively, in 199 Korean medical students. The associations among TCI, FDQOL, DEBQ and body mass index (BMI) were examined by correlational analysis. Multiple regression analysis was carried out to measure how well personality (TCI) accounted for patterns of overeating (DEBQ) and impaired quality of life from functional dyspepsia (FDQOL).


RESULTS
Individual differences in personality (especially harm-avoidance, self-transcendence, and self-directedness) were weakly associated with overeating and impaired quality of life from functional dyspepsia. Gender, social desirability and body mass index also played important roles in predicting eating behavior problems in the nonclinical population.


CONCLUSIONS
We found that the personality traits observed in clinical patients with eating disorders are also found in people with eating behavior problems in the nonclinical population of Korea. The ways that personality traits affect eating behaviors were discussed along with recommendations for future studies in light of the limitations of available data.
Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Washington University in St. Louis, MO 63110, USA; Department of Psychotherapy, School of Nursing and Public Health, Kyungil University, Daegu, 712-701, South Korea.
Soo Jin
SJ
Lee
Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Washington University in St. Louis, MO 63110, USA.
C Robert
CR
Cloninger
Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Washington University in St. Louis, MO 63110, USA; Division of Longevity and Biofunctional Medicine, School of Korean Medicine, Pusan National University, Busan, 609-735, South Korea. Electronic address: han@chaelab.org.
Han
H
Chae
D000328:Adult; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002605:Character; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006963:Hyperphagia / Q000523:psychology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010555:Personality Inventory; D011788:Quality of Life; D056910:Republic of Korea; D013337:Students, Medical / Q000523:psychology*; D013694:Temperament; D055815:Young Adult