Does Cholesterol Eating Habit Influence Anxious Temperament in
Kretschmer Typology?
Ambar Sulianti, Dedi Sulaeman, Endi Endi, Shofa Mutiara, Tia Isti’anah, and Adang Hambali
UIN Sunan Gunung Djati Bandung, Jl. A. H. Nasution 105 Bandung, West Java, Indonesia
Keywords: Body shape, Kretschmer, personality.
Abstract: Personality typology Kretschmer approach categorizes human’s body shape, personality, and temperament in
four classes: picnic/pyknic, leptosome, athletic and dysplastic. Although Kretschmer theory is widely used
in the world of psychology in Indonesia, little is known about interference of cholesterol eating habit to the
temperament of each body shape typology. This study aims to analyse the relationship among body shape,
cholesterol, and hyperthymic temperament. This research used quantitative method with cross sectional
design. Subjects of this study were 95 psychology students consist of 32 students with picnic type (short-fat),
and 33 students with leptosome type (high-lean), and 30 students with athletic type (balanced). The results
showed no relationship between body shape and anxious temperament, but high significant level of
relationship between cholesterol eating habit and anxious temperament. Levels of the highest anxiety
temperament on leptosomes type with high cholesterol eating habits further research is needed to examine
cholesterol metabolism on producing dopamine and serotonin in leptosome typology.
1 INTRODUCTION
Personality is a relatively permanent nature pattern
and has unique characteristics that consistently
influence its behavior (Strong et al., 2007).
Kretschmer's theory was one of the great works of the
beginning of the century which was initiated by Ernst
Kretschmer, a German psychologist, at the beginning
of the nineteenth century. Personality typology
according to Kretschmer does not solely address the
issue of physical and constitutional constitution. He
also addressed the problem of temperament, as
evidenced in his work: Korperbau und Character
(1921). Of the two types of typology, there is a
relationship with each other, so his opinion is very
interesting for other experts and had received a
positive response. Kretschmer typology is best
known for the connection between physical and
spiritual typology, in which man is essentially a
creature of monodualism psychophysics, which is the
essence of human life (Knight, 1957; Savitz and
Ramesar, 2006).
Based on his experiences while working as a
psychiatrist, Kretschmer researchers connect body
shape with temperament traits, with Picnic
classification, Leptosome, Athletic, and Dysplastic.
Type picnic has a horizontal body size more than
normal circumstances, so it looks short-chubed
Laptosome Type or Asthenic have upright sizes more
than ordinary circumstances, so the body looks tall.
Athletic type has a horizontal size and upright in a
balanced ratio, so the body looks aligned. This type is
a blend of picnic and asthenic. Type Dysplastic is a
deviation from the three types that have been
mentioned before. Kretschmer considers this type of
dysplastic to deviate from a normal constitution
(Knight, 1957; Savitz and Ramesar, 2006) .
The dominant temperament in a person can
determine whether or not he or she has a mental
illness (Karam et al., 2006). At first Kretschmer
divides the basic human temperament into two major
constitutional groups: cyclothymes and schizothymes
(Vazquez and Gonda, 2013). Kretschmer's theory is
strongly influenced by Kraeplin's opinion which
classifies psychosis sufferers into two groups, namely
schizophrenia and manic-depressive. People who
have the temperament of schizothymes, mental traits
correspond to schizophrenic sufferers; there is a
tendency toward autism, self-closing, living with
oneself. As for Persons with cyclothymes, their
psychic characteristics correspond to manic-
depressive sufferers. In relation to body shapes,
manic depressive sufferers are mostly stature-minded
Sulianti, A., Sulaeman, D., Endi, E., Mutiara, S., Isti’anah, T. and Hambali, A.
Does Cholesterol Eating Habit Influence Anxious Temperament in Kretschmer Typology?.
In Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Sociology Education (ICSE 2017) - Volume 1, pages 69-72
ISBN: 978-989-758-316-2
Copyright © 2018 by SCITEPRESS – Science and Technology Publications, Lda. All rights reserved
69

and schizophrenic patients are mostly leptosome,
athletic, and dysplastic (Dembińska-Krajewska and
Rybakowski, 2014; Maremmani et al., 2005;
Martinova et al., 2016).
Based on the theory of Kraepelin and Kretschmer,
human temperament is divided into 4 namely
depressive temperament, cyclothymic temperament,
hyperthymic temperament, and irritable temperament
(Maremmani et al., 2005). In its development in
keeping with the development of modern psychology,
Hagop Akiscal and his colleagues add a type of
temperament that is anxious temperament with
continuous characteristics of avoiding harm,
dependence, shame, inability to relax, unsafe,
uncontrollable worrying of the usual, hypervigilance,
tension gastrointestinal disorders, and irritability
(Rovai et al., 2013; Strong et al., 2007; Vázquez et al.,
2012). Anxious temperament is described as an
ongoing concern and a tendency to express
psychological tension, in the form of psychosomatic
symptoms (Spauwen, 2013).
Physical changes that occur in adolescents during
puberty are increased height and weight. The greatest
influence on the development of their mental state is
the growth of the body (the body becomes longer and
taller). Then, the reproductive organs begin to
function and secondary sexual signs begin to grow. In
late adolescence, these physical changes have started
toward steady and social maturity is formed,
including in overcoming anxiety. Thus late
adolescence begins to show the stability of anxiety.
In a preliminary study conducted on late
adolescent psychology students aged 18-19, we found
many respondents who showed anxious
temperament. The students have a typology of
Kretchmer picnic, asthenic, and athletic. Most
students love high cholesterol foods. A study says that
the fat concentration is inversely related to the size of
anxiety trait (Suarez, 1999). This study aims to
analyze the role of cholesterol eating habit in
affecting anxious temperament in each body shape
according to Kretschmer.
2 METHODS
This research uses descriptive quantitative method.
Data collected from all psychology students at one
university in Bandung aged 18-19 years. In this study,
we excluded 12 subjects as they were undergoing
mood disorder therapy; had unstable psychosocial
and environmental problems in the previous six
months, such as the death of a family member, death
or loss of close friends, severe health problems in the
family, and family disruption by separation or
divorce; and refused to sign informed consent.
Subjects who meet the inclusion criteria in this
research were 95 people.
The data were collected through a modified
anxious temperament questionnaire consisting of 21
items, a questionnaire on cholesterol eating habits,
and Body Mass Index measurements based on height
and weight. The questionnaire for measuring the
modified anxious temperament from related items
sourced from TEMPS-A (Temperament Evaluation
of Memphis, Pisa and San Diego Autoquestionnaire).
Questions consist of anxiety, alertness, tension, sleep
quality, and gastrointestinal symptoms. The
responses to questions were analyzed using Likert
scale which consists of (1) strongly agree; (2) agree;
(3) disagree; and (4) strongly disagree. The analysis
was performed using SPSS 20.00 for Windows.
3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
3.1 Results
3.1.1 Respondents’ Characteristics
Characteristics of respondents' eating habit can be
seen in Figure 1 below.
Figure 1: Eating habit characteristics.
Subjects consisted of 39 picnic people, 36
Leptosome and 20 athletic. No respondents were
found to be dysplastic. High cholesterol eating habits
are the most common in the type of Picnic and low
cholesterol eating habits, especially in the type of
Leptosome followed by the type picnic.
ICSE 2017 - 2nd International Conference on Sociology Education
70

3.1.2 Two Way ANOVA analysis
The mean characteristic of anxious temperaments in
the study is shown in Figure 2.
Figure 2: Estimated Mean of Anxious Temperament.
Figure 2 shows a high temperament average
especially in the leptosome body-shaped group that
consumes high cholesterol. To know the difference of
anxious temperament in each body shape group and
cholesterol eating habits, data analysis using Two
Way ANOVA is done and presented in table 1 below.
Table 1: Statistical Analysis of Body Shape and Cholesterol
Eating Habits against Temperament.
Tests of Between-Subjects Effects
Dependent Variable: Anxious
Temperament
Source
Type III
Sum of
Squares
df
Mean
Square
F
Sig.
Corrected
Model
9752.518
a
8
1219.065
13.251
.000
Intercept
232889.424
1
232889.42
2.531
E3
.000
Bodyshape
349.839
2
174.920
1.901
.156
Cholesterol
7372.084
2
3686.042
40.066
.000
Bodyshape *
Cholesterol
1089.178
4
272.294
2.960
.024
Error
7911.966
86
92.000
Total
293929.000
95
Corrected
Total
17664.484
94
a. R Squared = ,552 (Adjusted R Squared = ,510)
Based on table 1, there is no significant relationship
between body shape and anxious temperament.
However, there is a significant association between
cholesterol and anxious temperament.
3.2 Discussion
In this study there is no significant relationship
between body shape and anxious temperament.
Kretschmer research distinguishes the tendency of
temperament on abnormal behavior. In this case, the
subjects of this study were people who have no
behavioral abnormalities.
The behavior that manifests the characteristics of
energetic and temporal temperaments comes from the
interaction of all the physiological and biochemical
mechanisms involved in regulating speed and
excitation. The energetic characteristic is a
consequence of the individual neuro-endocrine
mechanisms responsible for regulating the level of
stimulation. Temporal properties can be explained by
neuro-physiological mechanisms that regulate the
rate of appearance and extinction of nerve processes,
and also by certain neurotransmitters, such as
dopamine (Capelli and Helme-Guizon, 2008).
In this study we can see that anxious temperament
is high in the typology of picnic, leptosome, and
athletic. This is consistent with research in India that
non-vegetarian eating habits affect low temperament
(Harikrishnan and Thomas, 2009).
Temperament refers to individual differences in
behavioral styles and may be directly correlated with
neurobiologists. Personality is defined as a person's
mindset, feelings and behavior. Although
temperaments and personalities have traditionally
been conceptualized as different domains, several
years of research has shown evidence of a link
between temperament and personality (Neeleman et
al. 2004)
In this study, anxious temperament is strongly
influenced by cholesterol in leptosome typology.
People who have a tall skinny figure but have a high
cholesterol eating habits show more concern, tension,
insomnia, and complain of gastric pain. The
temperamental characteristics have also been studied
according to the Cloninger (1986) model of integrated
biosocial personality theory, which initially describes
three inherited temperamental dimensions: newty
seeking (NS), harm avoidance (HA) and reward
dependence (RD). It has been postulated that each of
these three dimensions correlates with dopaminergic,
serotoninergic and noradrenergic activity
(Maremmani et al., 2005). Cholesterol is the main
ingredient in the manufacture of dopamine and
serotonin. Possible on the leptosome type, commonly
eaten cholesterol is not dumped in the form of fat in
the body organs and dumped under the skin as well as
on the picnic type, but is used as a dopamine and
serotonin-forming agent.
Does Cholesterol Eating Habit Influence Anxious Temperament in Kretschmer Typology?
71

4 CONCLUSONS
Cholesterol Eating habit affects anxious temperament
in all body shape types, either picnic, leptosome, or
athletic. The highest anxious temperament level in
leptosome type charts has a high cholesterol eating
habit. It is strongly recommended that leptosome type
reduce the eating habits of cholesterol because it can
increase the temperament of anxiety. The results of
this study can be the basis for further research to see
the effect of cholesterol on dopamine and serotonin
hormone on each personality type.
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