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The Effect of Personality Trait on Obesity in the Bamenda Municipality, Cameroon

Received: 28 March 2022     Accepted: 19 April 2022     Published: 28 April 2022
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Abstract

Many researchers have established the link between genes and obesity. Some other researchers, in an attempt to find out why people with the same genetical setup have different body mass indexes, have amongst other factors linked it to differences in socioeconomic status, differences to dieting pattern and physical activities. A new school of thought has come up to establish the fact that differences in personalities also accounts for differences in body mass index. According to Sutin et al. (2011), personality traits contribute to health outcomes. They found a link between personality and body mass index. This study was out to investigate the effect of personality trait on obesity. We administered 1052 personality test randomly to individuals aged 20 and above in the Bamenda Municipality. The model was estimated using the regression; ANOVA and Correlation analysis. From the analysis, it was realized that there exist a positive and statistically significant relationship between personality trait and obesity. Sanguine and choleric personalities were less likely to be obese compared to melancholic and phlegmatic. The study concluded that, introverts are more likely to be obese than extroverts. It was recommended that individuals who have the melancholic and phlegmatic personality (introverts) should be more actively involved in dieting and exercising. Lastly, it was also recommended that the government of Cameroon should institute one compulsory day of the week for workers sports. All workers should have Saturday as a compulsory sporting day as done in Kenya.

Published in International Journal of Health Economics and Policy (Volume 7, Issue 2)
DOI 10.11648/j.hep.20220702.12
Page(s) 25-30
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Effect, Personality, Trait, Obesity, Bamenda, Cameroon

References
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[6] Fezeu L., Minkoulou E. and Balkau B. (2006). Association between socioeconomic status and adiposity in urban Cameroon. Int J Epidemiol, 2006. (35); 105–11.
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[14] Sachin MP., Predeep RJ. And Joshi LN. (2013). Association of Chakra Personality Type and Obesity. International Journal of Recent Trends in Science and Technology, ISSN 2277-2812 E-ISSN. 8. (2); 2249-8109.
[15] Sobal J. and Stunkard AJ. (1989). Socioeconomic Status and Obesity: A Review of the Literature. "Psychological Bulletin, 105.
[16] Soto CJ. (2018). Big Five personality traits. The SAGE encyclopedia of lifespan human development (pp. 240-241).
[17] Sutin AR., Ferrucci L., Zonderman AB. And Terracciano (2011). Personality and obesity across the adult life span:. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 101.(3); 579-592.
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Cite This Article
  • APA Style

    Kinga Bertila Mayin, Fuein Vera Kum, Sundjo Fabien, Njohyim Herita Ngefor. (2022). The Effect of Personality Trait on Obesity in the Bamenda Municipality, Cameroon. International Journal of Health Economics and Policy, 7(2), 25-30. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.hep.20220702.12

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    ACS Style

    Kinga Bertila Mayin; Fuein Vera Kum; Sundjo Fabien; Njohyim Herita Ngefor. The Effect of Personality Trait on Obesity in the Bamenda Municipality, Cameroon. Int. J. Health Econ. Policy 2022, 7(2), 25-30. doi: 10.11648/j.hep.20220702.12

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    AMA Style

    Kinga Bertila Mayin, Fuein Vera Kum, Sundjo Fabien, Njohyim Herita Ngefor. The Effect of Personality Trait on Obesity in the Bamenda Municipality, Cameroon. Int J Health Econ Policy. 2022;7(2):25-30. doi: 10.11648/j.hep.20220702.12

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  • @article{10.11648/j.hep.20220702.12,
      author = {Kinga Bertila Mayin and Fuein Vera Kum and Sundjo Fabien and Njohyim Herita Ngefor},
      title = {The Effect of Personality Trait on Obesity in the Bamenda Municipality, Cameroon},
      journal = {International Journal of Health Economics and Policy},
      volume = {7},
      number = {2},
      pages = {25-30},
      doi = {10.11648/j.hep.20220702.12},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.hep.20220702.12},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.hep.20220702.12},
      abstract = {Many researchers have established the link between genes and obesity. Some other researchers, in an attempt to find out why people with the same genetical setup have different body mass indexes, have amongst other factors linked it to differences in socioeconomic status, differences to dieting pattern and physical activities. A new school of thought has come up to establish the fact that differences in personalities also accounts for differences in body mass index. According to Sutin et al. (2011), personality traits contribute to health outcomes. They found a link between personality and body mass index. This study was out to investigate the effect of personality trait on obesity. We administered 1052 personality test randomly to individuals aged 20 and above in the Bamenda Municipality. The model was estimated using the regression; ANOVA and Correlation analysis. From the analysis, it was realized that there exist a positive and statistically significant relationship between personality trait and obesity. Sanguine and choleric personalities were less likely to be obese compared to melancholic and phlegmatic. The study concluded that, introverts are more likely to be obese than extroverts. It was recommended that individuals who have the melancholic and phlegmatic personality (introverts) should be more actively involved in dieting and exercising. Lastly, it was also recommended that the government of Cameroon should institute one compulsory day of the week for workers sports. All workers should have Saturday as a compulsory sporting day as done in Kenya.},
     year = {2022}
    }
    

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    AU  - Kinga Bertila Mayin
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    AU  - Sundjo Fabien
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    JO  - International Journal of Health Economics and Policy
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    AB  - Many researchers have established the link between genes and obesity. Some other researchers, in an attempt to find out why people with the same genetical setup have different body mass indexes, have amongst other factors linked it to differences in socioeconomic status, differences to dieting pattern and physical activities. A new school of thought has come up to establish the fact that differences in personalities also accounts for differences in body mass index. According to Sutin et al. (2011), personality traits contribute to health outcomes. They found a link between personality and body mass index. This study was out to investigate the effect of personality trait on obesity. We administered 1052 personality test randomly to individuals aged 20 and above in the Bamenda Municipality. The model was estimated using the regression; ANOVA and Correlation analysis. From the analysis, it was realized that there exist a positive and statistically significant relationship between personality trait and obesity. Sanguine and choleric personalities were less likely to be obese compared to melancholic and phlegmatic. The study concluded that, introverts are more likely to be obese than extroverts. It was recommended that individuals who have the melancholic and phlegmatic personality (introverts) should be more actively involved in dieting and exercising. Lastly, it was also recommended that the government of Cameroon should institute one compulsory day of the week for workers sports. All workers should have Saturday as a compulsory sporting day as done in Kenya.
    VL  - 7
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Author Information
  • Department of Health Economics and Policy Management, Catholic University of Cameroon (CATUC), Bamenda, Cameroon

  • Department of Economic, The University of Bamenda, Bamenda, Cameroon

  • Department of Economic, The University of Bamenda, Bamenda, Cameroon

  • Department of Psychology, The University of Yaounde I, Yaounde, Cameroon

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