Big Five Personality Factors as Predictors of Self-Rated General Physical Health

Abstract

Previous research has shown significant associations between self-rated health and personality. However, these results are inconsistent. This study explored whether the Big Five (BF) personality factors would predict self-rated general physical health. A volunteer convenience sample (601 men; 720 women) of undergraduates at Alexandria University responded to a single item of Self-Rated Physical Health (SRPH) and the Arabic Big Five Personality Inventory (ABFPI). Men obtained significantly higher mean scores than did women for SRPH, Extraversion, Openness, and Conscientiousness; whereas women had a significantly higher mean score than did men for Neuroticism. SRPH was significantly correlated with all the BF scores except for Agreeableness in women. A principal components analysis extracted two components and labeled “Adjustment” and “Healthy extraversion versus neuroticism”. Predictors of SRPH were Openness and low Neuroticism and for men Conscientiousness and low Neuroticism for women. The present results replicate some previous findings and support the role of personality for predicting subjective physical health.