Elucidating the links between personality traits and diabetes mellitus: Examining the role of facets, assessment methods, and selected mediators

Abstract

The aim of this paper is three-fold. First, we identified self-and informant-rated Five-Factor Model (FFM) personality domains and facets associated with diabetes diagnosis. Second, we tested whether the associations were independent of the rater method-specific variance.Lastly, we examined whether the observed associations were mediated by BMI, alcohol intake, dietary habits, and exercise. The participants were members of the Estonian Biobank (N = 3592; 1145 men; Mage = 46.6 ± 7.0 years). We fit a series of logistic regression models predicting diabetes diagnosis from one self-or informant-rated personality domain or facet at a time, controlling for age, sex, and education. Diabetes diagnosis was significantly associated with the N5: Impulsiveness, E4: Activity, and C2: Order facets. Methodindependent variance, estimated by means of bi-factor models, was significantly related with diabetes for two of the facets, E4: Activity (β = -0.106, p = .007) and C2: Order (β = -0.089, p = .037), but not for N5: Impulsiveness. The strongest mediator of the personality-diabetes association was BMI, explaining 30-50% of the observed associations. We discuss implications of the current results.

Individual differences in impulsivity and need for cognition as potential risk or resilience factors of diabetes self-management and glycemic control

“…However, whether and to what extent such effects can lead to long-term changes in the basic personality factor impulsivity or what the variance proportion of such an influence on the overall personality variance proportion could be, is not yet clear and requires appropriate prospective analyses in the future. Moreover, there is also comparatively good evidence from previous studies that impulsivity or related personality traits are potential risk factors for the development of type 2 diabetes or behaviors which are risk factors for later developing diabetes [29,[34][35][36] Moreover, self-reports may be influenced by social desirability and may thus be complemented by observer ratings in future research. However, since the questionnaires were answered online and patients were anonymous social desirability is assumed to play a minor role [72].…”

“…This line of research attempts to identify which traits are important for the emergence of type 2 diabetes and beneficial when dealing with diabetes care. However, mixed results have been observed across different studies [29][30][31]. Because the global nature of the Big Five factors seems to be suboptimal in identifying personality-specific variance in diabetes self-management [29], the present study specifically addresses the personality traits impulsivity and need for cognition (NFC), also referred to as typical intellectual engagement or cognitive motivation, as potential resilience or risk factors of diabetes self-management and glycemic control.…”

“…It has been associated with worse diabetes self-management in type 1 diabetics [32,33]. For type 2 diabetes, an association between diabetes diagnosis and impulse control disorders (particularly eating disorders) was found [22] and impulsivity or related personality traits have been identified as potential risk factors for the development of type 2 diabetes and behaviors that are themselves risk factors for the later development of diabetes [29,[34][35][36][37]. There is also evidence that hypoglycemia can lead to increased impulsive behaviors [38][39].…”

“…Individuals with high NFC show a higher engagement and pleasure in thinking [41], are more focused on task-relevant information, tend to be goal-oriented and persistent, and actively search for information in order to come to valid decisions or judgments [40,41]. Furthermore, NFC is positively associated with conscientious behavior [42], exhibiting beneficial effects on diabetes care [29,30,43]. NFC-related persistence and goal-orientated behavior could aid diabetes self-management and effective diabetes care, as for example blood sugar needs to be monitored constantly.…”

Do Self-Reports and Informant-Ratings Measure the Same Personality Constructs?

“…Likewise, researchers sometimes predict outcomes (i.e., variables outside personality domain that could be influenced by personality) from both self-and informant-rated personality scores (e.g., Čukić et al, 2016;Mõttus et al, 2012), believing that convergent findings strengthen their evidence. Alternatively, self-reports and informant-ratings are sometimes aggregated in order to increase the reliability/validity of the scores (e.g., Realo et al, 2015).…”