This study investigated the associations between the Big Five personality traits and disordered eating in female exercisers, and further explored potential mediators including exercise dependence symptoms, and obsessive–compulsive symptoms underlying this association. The multiple mediation analyses revealed that exercise dependence symptoms and obsessive–compulsive symptoms mediate the relationship between conscientiousness,
emotional stability, and disordered eating in female exercisers, whereas obsessive-compulsive symptoms, but not exercise dependence symptoms are a mediator of the relationship between agreeableness and disordered eating. These findings can be used to improve the screening procedures for eating disorders in female exercisers as they contribute to a better understanding of the psychological mechanisms that underlie the associations between the Big Five personality traits and disordered eating.