Food addiction and personality traits: A three-levels meta-analysis of correlational studies

Background: Epidemiological and clinical studies highlighted that food addiction is a clinically relevant phenomenon. A large number of studies investigated its link with personality traits. However, a systematic overview and a meta-analysis of these results is lacking. Methods: We systematically searched for studies investigating the link between food addiction and personality traits on several academic databases. For each personality trait, we performed a three-level meta-analysis estimating the strength of its association with food addiction severity. The role of moderators was tested employing meta-regression. Results: The screening process led to the selection of 37 studies. Most contributions investigate impulsivity or the Cloninger's dimensions with the Impulsive Behavior Scale or the Temperament and Character Inventory respectively. An insufficient number of observations were retrieved to evaluate the association between food addiction severity and some personality traits such as those measured by the five-factor model. The highest effect sizes observed linked food addiction to low levels of self-directedness (r = −0.26), to high levels of both negative (r = 0.33) and positive (r = 0.27) urgency and to attentional impulsiveness (r = 0.31). Age and gender significantly moderated some of the effect sizes. Conclusions: More research is needed to increase our knowledge regarding the association between food addiction severity and some personality traits. Results suggested that food addiction may be associated to the same personality traits that characterized addictions and eating disorders (e.g. harm avoidance and impulsivity), also revealing its specificity (i.e. the lack of significant association with reward dependence).