Personality traits and the response to lifestyle interventions for adult obesity: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Lifestyle interventions have been widely used to manage obesity, but their effects vary across individuals. Personality traits have increasingly drawn researchers' interest in exploring their role in obesity interventions, but study findings remain mixed. We aimed to systematically review and assess the associations between personality traits and the response to lifestyle-based obesity interventions for adult obesity. We searched PubMed, EMBASE, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, Web of Science, PsycINFO, Scopus, Clinicaltrials.gov registry, and MedRxiv until February 8, 2023, and studies were screened as per the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-analysis (PRISMA) guidelines. We grouped personality traits into 5 superordinate traits according to the widely used Five-Factor model (FFM) and synthesized the results within each superordinate trait quantitatively (using meta-analyses) or narratively. We also used bubble plots to visualize patterns and trends within the results. We identified 3289 records and ultimately included 9 eligible studies in this review. We found that high conscientiousness tended to be positively associated with the response to lifestyle interventions for adult obesity and that low novelty seeking might be the main subordinate trait belonging to conscientiousness that was related to the intervention effect. Most of the included studies were rated as having a risk of bias due to inadequacy in comparisons of baseline characteristics or a short follow-up. Overall, studies included in this review are scarce, and more high-quality research of the present topic is urgently needed to inform individualized interventions for adult obesity stratified by personality traits.