Personality and Mindful Eating: 4 of 5 Big Five Traits Linked in 875 Students

Students higher in agreeableness, conscientiousness and openness scored higher on mindful eating, while students higher in neuroticism scored lower, a new survey of 875 university students in Türkiye reports¹. The study of personality and mindful eating, published in BMC Public Health, found no clear link between extraversion and the overall score.

The findingHow Are Personality and Mindful Eating Linked?

Four of the five Big Five traits were linked to mindful eating scores, even after the researchers allowed for age, sex, BMI and income.

Mindful eating means paying attention while you eat: noticing hunger and fullness, and the feelings or cues that push you to eat. Across the total score and its parts, personality explained an extra 2.4% to 10.5% of the differences between students. For the total score, the full model explained 14.8%.

β shows how strongly each trait tracked the score once the other traits and background factors were taken into account. The authors call these effects modest. Neuroticism had the largest one, and it pointed the other way. You can see your own five scores with our Big Five test.

The detailsWhich Eating Habits Went With Neuroticism?

Higher neuroticism went with more eating past fullness, more emotional eating and more eating set off by cues around you, such as food ads or social settings.

It also went with lower scores for control of eating and eating discipline. That fits our earlier story on neuroticism and anxiety. People high in this trait feel stress more easily, and some may turn to food to cope, the authors suggest.

The other traits had their own patterns:

• Conscientiousness went with less emotional eating and less eating past fullness.
• Agreeableness went with better control of eating.
• Openness went with more attention to taste and texture, and more thought about what food contains.
• Extraversion went with more eating past fullness (β = 0.107), even with no clear link to the total score.

Who took partWho Was in the Study?

The study surveyed 875 university students in Türkiye online between October and November 2025, and 80.1% of them were women.

Their average age was 22.5. They answered the Big Five Inventory-10, a short test that measures each trait with two questions, and the 30-item Mindful Eating Questionnaire. Students found the survey through social media and messaging apps. People with eating disorders, diabetes, a serious mental disorder or a diet for a health condition were left out, as were pregnant or breastfeeding women.

What it meansWhat Does This Mean for Your Eating Habits?

It suggests your traits may go with certain eating habits, so knowing them could help you choose an approach that suits you.

The authors give examples. Students higher in neuroticism may do better with mindful eating paired with stress-management skills. More extraverted students may need ways to handle social meals and food cues. Students lower in conscientiousness may gain from structure, such as meal planning and setting goals. None of these ideas were tested in this study.

A trait score is not a diagnosis, and this story is not diet advice. If worries about food or eating get in the way of daily life, talk to a doctor or a registered dietitian.

Want the wider picture? Our personality test shows your type, and the 16 personality type guides explain how each type handles stress. Emotional skills matter too: read our story on emotional intelligence and life satisfaction in students, or try the emotional intelligence test.

QuestionsPersonality and Mindful Eating: FAQ

SourcesThe Study and Our Sources

Written byArjun VardhanNews & Research WriterNumbers checked byLeon FalknerData & Research Analyst