Implications of personality and parental education on healthy lifestyles among adolescents

Abstract

Several studies have shown an association between personality and health status. The aim of this study was to evaluate the association between personality traits, parental education and health-related lifestyles in a cohort of Spanish adolescents. This is a longitudinal study with a source population of 1,123 third-year students (aged 14-15) in secondary schools in Spain. At the baseline evaluation sociodemographic variables, parental education and personality (Big Five Questionnaire for Children) were collected. At 18 months of follow-up health related lifestyles, including adherence to a healthy diet (KidMed index), tobacco and alcohol consumption, physical exercise, sleep problems and recreative screen and social network time were collected. A total of 824 adolescents (73.4%) completed the 18 months assessment and 695 (84.3%) presented valid data. Higher conscientiousness was associated to a lower risk for non-adherence to Mediterranean diet (OR=0.7, 95% CIs=0.5-0.9), tobacco (OR=0.5, 95% CIs=0.3-0.7) and alcohol consumption (OR=0.6, 95% CIs=0.5-0.8), excessive use of screens (OR=0.7, 95% CIs=0.5-0.9) and social network sites (OR=0.7, 95% CIs=0.5-0.8). Higher levels of extraversion was significantly related to a lower risk of physical inactivity (OR=0.7, 95% CIs=0.6-0.9), but they are at a higher risk of low adherence to Mediterranean diet (OR=1.3, 95% CIs=1.0-1.7), tobacco (OR=2.7, 95% CIs=1.7-4.3) and alcohol consumption (OR=1.9, 95% CIs=1.5-2.4) and excessive use of social network sites (OR=1.6, 95% CIs=1.3-1.9). High levels of emotional instability were associated with tobacco consumption (OR=1.5, 95% CIs=1.0-2.2) and sleep problems (OR=2.0, 95% CIs=1.5-2.7). Finally, we found an association with lower parental education and adolescents' low adherence to Mediterranean diet (OR=1.6, 95% CIs=1.0-2.4) and sleep problems (OR=1.8, 95% CIs=1.0-3.0). Cluster analysis of health-related behaviours indicated the presence of two different clusters (unhealthy and healthy adolescents) that were associated with personality traits. Conscientiousness, extraversion, emotional instability and parental education are independent factors associated with the acquisition of adolescent healthy lifestyles.