Vegetarianism, depression, and the five factor model of personality

The purpose of this 2018 study was to discover differences in personality, if any, between vegetarians and omnivores. Forestell & Nezlek (2018) recruited 276 vegetarians (those who avoided meat and fish), 1191 semi-vegetarians (those who ate meat and/or fish), and 4955 omnivores. After measuring the participants’ personality (the five factor model) and depressive symptoms, it was apparent that vegetarians and semi-vegetarians were more open to new experiences, while also showing signs of being more neurotic and depressed than omnivores. No variations in conscientiousness nor agreeableness as a function of eating habits could be found. These differences in personalities between vegetarians and semi-vegetarians with omnivores identified might help improve our comprehension of individual differences in food preferences. [NPID: personality, vegetarian, omnivore, openness, conscientiousness]

Year: 2018

Reference: Forestell, C. A., & Nezlek, J. B. (2018). Vegetarianism, depression, and the five factor model of personality. Ecology of food and nutrition, 57(3), 246–259. https://doi.org/10.1080/03670244.2018.1455675

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