Do personality profiles contribute to patterns of physical activity and sedentary behavior in adulthood? A prospective cohort study

Background Despite the observed associations of personality traits with levels of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and sedentary behavior (SB), studies exploring whether the personality profiles differ in terms of the pattern of accumulation of physical behavior are lacking. The aim of this study was to identify adults’ personality profiles and to characterize and investigate how these profiles differ in physical behavior. Methods The study utilized the longitudinal data of the participants of the Jyväskylä Longitudinal Study of Personality and Social Development (n = 141–307). Information on the five-factor model of personality, including the traits of neuroticism, extraversion, conscientiousness, openness, and agreeableness, was collected at ages 33, 42, 50, and 61 years, and used to create latent personality profiles. Physical behavior, operationalized as the amount and accumulation of MVPA and SB bouts, was captured using a triaxial accelerometer worn during waking hours at age 61 years. The differences in the behavior between the personality profiles were analyzed using the Kruskal-Wallis test. Results Five personality profiles were identified: resilient (20.2%), brittle (14.0%), overcontrolled (9.8%), undercontrolled (15.3%), and ordinary (40.7%). Although there were no statistically significant differences between the personality profiles in the time spent in MVPA relative to SB (MVPA per hour of daily SB), individuals with resilient (low in neuroticism and high in other traits) and ordinary (average in each trait) profiles had MVPA-to-SB ratios of 0.12 (7 min) and those with a brittle (high in neuroticism and low in extraversion) profile had a ratio of 0.09 (5.5 min). The individuals in the resilient group exhibited a longer usual MVPA bout duration than those in the overcontrolled (low in extraversion, openness, and agreeableness) (8 min vs. 2 min) and undercontrolled (high in openness and low in conscientiousness) groups (8 min vs. 3 min). They also exhibited a longer usual SB bout duration than those in the ordinary group (29 min vs. 23 min). Conclusions The resilient group displayed the most prolonged MVPA and SB bout patterns. The results suggest that personality characteristics may contribute to how MVPA and SB are accumulated.