Study on the Personality and Eating Behavior

Byun, Young Soon; Chung, Eun Joo

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore the personality and eating behavior among adult women. The subjects for the study were 237 adult women, who live in Seoul. The survey instruments were to develop for personality and eating behavior. Data were collected between November 6 and November 27 in 2000 and analyzed using the SPSS program. The result of this study are as follows: 1. Six factors(perfection, emotion, autonomy, consideration for other, evaluate from other, dependency) emerged from personality, and these contributed 55.29% of the variance in the total score. 2. Three factors(craving, food intake according to emotion, eating habit) emerged from eating behavior, and these contributed 49.23% of the variance in the total score. 3. There were significant correlation between personality and eating behavior(r=0.32, p=0.00). 4. In the relationships between craving and personality, perfection, emotion, autonomy, consideration for other, evaluate from other, dependency showed a statistically significant correlation. 5. In the relationships between food intake according to emotion and personality, perfection, evaluate from other, dependency showed a statistically significant correlation. 6. In the relationships between eating habit and personality, perfection, autonomy, consideration for other, evaluate from other, dependency showed a statistically significant correlation. This study suggest that perfection, evaluation from other, dependency dimension of personality may be important factor for regulation of eating behavior.