Conscientiousness and fruit and vegetable consumption: exploring behavioural intention as a mediator
Open accessAbstract
Clear associations have emerged between conscientiousness and health behaviours, such that higher levels of conscientiousness are predictive of beneficial health behaviours. This study investigated the conscientiousness-fruit and vegetable consumption relationship and whether behavioural intention mediated this relationship. A large sample of adults (N = 2136) completed an online battery of questionnaires measuring conscientiousness, behavioural intentions to consume fruit and vegetables, together with self-reported behaviour. Correlation analysis revealed that conscientiousness and each of its facets were positively associated with behavioural intention and self-reported behaviour. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses revealed that after controlling for age, gender and education, total conscientiousness, and the facets of responsibility, industriousness, order and virtue predicted self-reported behaviour. Further analysis revealed that in line with the Theory of Planned Behaviour, behavioural intention fully mediated the conscientiousness-fruit and vegetable behaviour relationship. In conclusion, low levels of conscientiousness were found to be associated with lower fruit and vegetable intentions, with the latter also associated with fruit and vegetable consumption.
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Conscientiousness has been found to be strongly related to a propensity to engage in many other health-related behaviors, such as healthy eating and cancer screening.
“The personality trait of conscientiousness has also been found to be strongly related to a propensity to engage in many other health-related behaviors (Gerhards et al., 2011), such as healthy eating (Wilson et al., 2016), and cancer screening (Aschwanden et al., 2019).”
From Predictors of acceptability and engagement in a self-guided online program for depression and anxiety (2021) · cites this paper as Wilson et al., 2016
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- Authors
- Wilson, A. E., O’Connor, D. B., Lawton, R., Hill, P. L., & Roberts, B. W.
- Affiliations
- University of Leeds (GB)
- University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (US)
- Corresponding author
- Wilson, Antonia E.
- Venue
- Psychology, Health & Medicine
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2015-10-22
- Volume
- 21
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 469-475
- ISSN
- 1354-8506 (ISSN-L)
- 1465-3966
- PMC
- PMC4819881
- OpenAlex
- W2271477718
- Cited by
- 18
- References
- 27
- Citations by year
- 2025: 1 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 1 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 1 · 2018: 4 · 2017: 1 · 2016: 1
- FWCI
- 3.24
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Psychology Health & Medicine (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- White Rose Research Online (University of Leeds, The University of Sheffield, University of York) (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- Economic and Social Research Council (PhD scholarship)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Applied Psychology › Behavioral Health and Interventions
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Personality Traits and Psychology
- Health Sciences › Nursing › Nutrition and Dietetics › Nutrition, Health and Food Behavior
- Keywords
- conscientiousness, fruit and vegetable intake, behavioral intention, mediation, theory of planned behavior, personality traits, health behavior, responsibility, diligence, order, virtue, adults
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