Relationship Between Personality Traits and Physical - Social Anxiety in Obese Women who are Applying for Bariatric Surgery: A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Background: Obesity is a multifactorial disease defined by excessive adiposity, posing a health risk by increasing the risk of noncommunicable diseases. We aimed to investigate the relationship between personality traits and physical-social anxiety in overweight women seeking bariatric surgery.Methods: An applied and descriptive-correlational design was used in this cross-sectional study. The participants were overweight women who had applied for bariatric surgery and went to the hospital; a total of 110 people were selected through convenience sampling. The participants completed questionnaires on demographic characteristics, personality (neuroticism-extroversion-openness [NEO] personality inventory), and physical-social features. Data were analyzed using SPSS software via regression and correlation analysis at a significance level of P<0.05.Results: We found a positive relationship between neuroticism and physical-social anxiety (P≤0.01). Conversely, extraversion, agreeableness, openness, and conscientiousness exhibited negative associations with physical-social anxiety (P≤0.01).Conclusion: Our study indicates that neuroticism is a positive and significant predictor of physical-social anxiety, while extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness are negative predictors of physical stress. These findings highlight the importance of considering personality traits in understanding the physical-social anxiety of overweight women seeking bariatric surgery.

Keywords

• bariatric surgery
• personality
• anxiety
• obesity