Personality-Based Approaches to Health and Health Behavior Interventions

Personality refers to individual differences in how people think, feel, and behave, and this can have important implications for people’s health and health behaviors. For example, people differ greatly in what they choose to eat, how much they exercise, to what degree they seek to avoid hazards, or how they experience and cope with stressful situations and life events. Personality can also play a significant role in health promotion interventions. For example, the effectiveness of an intervention may vary depending on a person’s prior knowledge, attitudes, perceived control, skills, or dispositional tendencies. This chapter presents a synthesis of the role of personality in health and health promotion interventions. It summarizes the evidence on the relationship between personality and health, explains theoretical models and underlying mechanisms, and presents concrete applications of how personality-based approaches can be used for health promotion, discussing both challenges and future directions. In summary, personality, health, and health behavior (change) are closely intertwined. Taking into account different individual dispositions to think, feel, and behave should not only be considered, but can also significantly increase the effectiveness of health promotion interventions.