What Facets of Picky Eating Relate To Eating Concerns in Undergraduate Students?: The Moderating Effects of Inflexible Eating and Mental Health Concerns

Purpose: Picky eating (PE) can occur in adulthood and is associated with mental health concerns. PE is often conceptualized as distinct from disordered eating, but recent research maps positive relationships between these maladaptive eating phenotypes. Relatedly, recent research suggests PE is more strongly related to eating concerns, a facet of disordered eating, via inflexible eating and mental health concerns, but precisely what PE facets explain these relations remain unknown.Methods: A large, undergraduate sample (N=509) completed an online survey assessing PE facets (Adult Picky Eating Questionnaire; meal presentation, food variety, meal disengagement, and taste aversion), disordered eating (Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire), specifically eating concerns, mental health concerns (Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale - 21 Items), and inflexible eating (Inflexible Eating Questionnaire).Results: Positive relationships emerged between PE facets, eating concerns, inflexible eating, and mental health concerns. Meal disengagement was more strongly associated with eating concerns when inflexible eating was higher, whereas food variety and meal presentation were more strongly associated with eating concerns when mental health concerns was higher. Inflexible eating and mental health concerns did not significantly interact with taste aversion to explain variance in eating concerns.Conclusions: Considering PE multidimensionally may yield important insights beyond the broader construct. Mental health concerns and inflexible eating may be treatment and research targets in addressing the overlap between PE facets such as meal presentation, meal disengagement, and food variety and eating concerns. Level of Evidence: Level V, cross-sectional descriptive study.

What Facets of Picky Eating Relate to Eating Concerns in Undergraduate Students?: The Moderating Effects of Negative Psychological Correlates

Purpose: Picky eating (PE) can occur in adulthood and is associated with mental health concerns. PE is often conceptualized as distinct from disordered eating (DE), but recent research maps positive relationships between these maladaptive eating phenotypes. Precisely what PE facets relate to DE remain unknown, as do factors such as negative psychological correlates that might explain relationships between PE facets and DE.Methods: A large, undergraduate sample (N=509) completed an online survey assessing PE facets (Adult Picky Eating Questionnaire; meal presentation, food variety, meal disengagement, and taste aversion), disordered eating (Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire), specifically eating concerns, and negative psychological correlates such as mental health concerns (Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale - 21 Items) and inflexible eating (Inflexible Eating Questionnaire).Results: Positive relationships emerged between PE facets, eating concerns, and negative psychological correlates. Negative psychological correlates moderated relationships between PE facets and eating concerns. Meal presentation, meal disengagement, and taste aversion were more strongly associated with eating concerns when mental health concerns and inflexible eating were higher. Food variety did not significantly explain variance in eating concerns.Conclusions: Considering PE multidimensionally may yield important insights beyond the broader construct. Mental health concerns and inflexible eating may be treatment and research targets in addressing the overlap between PE facets such as meal presentation, meal disengagement, and taste aversion and eating concerns. Level of Evidence: Level V, cross-sectional descriptive study.