Distinct Personality Traits Associated with Intake of Coffee, Tea, and Cola Drinks and Smoking

Background: Caffeine intake has been associated with personality traits such as novelty seeking and impulsivity. However, the specific associations with different caffeine sources have not been well studied. Methods: We evaluated the association of coffee, tea, and cola drinks intake and smoking status with the Temperament and Character Inventory, revised version, in a sample of 8646 subjects (24.7% men) collected in a web survey. Data were analyzed with multivariate analysis of variance with age, gender, other caffeine sources, and tobacco smoking as covariates. Results: For temperament, only reward dependence was slightly lower in very high coffee consumers (p<0.05), whereas tea consumption was associated with significantly lower harm avoidance (p<0.001) and higher persistence (p<0.01). Cola drinks consumption was strongly related to higher harm avoidance (p<0.001) and novelty seeking (p<0.001), and smoking was associated particularly with higher novelty seeking (p<0.001) and somewhat higher reward dependence (p<0.001). Regarding character data, only very high coffee intake was associated with lower self-directness (p<0.001) and higher self-transcendence (p<0.001). Tea intake was significantly related with higher self-directedness (p<0.001) and higher self-transcendence (p<0.001). Both cola drink consumption and smoking were associated with lower self-directedness (p<0.001) and lower cooperativeness (p<0.001). Conclusions: Coffee intake was only modestly related to personality traits and tea consumption showed an association with more mature and adaptive traits. In contrast, cola drink consumption was associated with more immature and maladaptive personality profiles, similar to smoking. Further studies should take these differences into account when evaluating association with caffeine intake.