Dataset Information

Examining vegetarianism, weight motivations, and eating disorder psychopathology among college students.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

Previous research has suggested a link between vegetarianism, broadly defined, and symptoms of eating disorders (ED). However, the literature supporting this link is mixed and limited by possible measurement artifacts. Using data from a national sample of college students, the present study examines ED symptomatology among three groups: (a) vegetarians whose meat avoidance is motivated by weight concerns; (b) non-weight motivated vegetarians; and (c) nonvegetarians.

Method

Participants include 9,910 students from 12 colleges and universities across the United States who participated in the web-based Healthy Bodies Study. ED symptomatology was measured using the Short-Eating Disorder Examination-Questionnaire (S-EDE-Q). First, multi-group confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to test measurement invariance (MI) of the S-EDE-Q across weight-motivated vegetarians, non-weight-motivated vegetarians, and nonvegetarians. Gender- and BMI-adjusted ANCOVA was used to compare S-EDE-Q scores across groups.

Results

9.3% of participants were vegetarian. Cis-women and gender minority students were more likely to be vegetarian; those who became vegetarians after entering college were more likely to report weight-related motivations. Strict MI was supported for the S-EDE-Q global and subscale scores. Weight-motivated vegetarians reported higher levels of restraint, shape/weight overvaluation, body dissatisfaction, and global ED psychopathology relative to other participants.

Discussion

To our knowledge, this is the first to explicitly link weight motivations for vegetarianism to ED psychopathology in a large, representative sample of young adults. Results suggest that students presenting with ED symptoms should be assessed for their motivations for adopting a vegetarian diet, and this information should be considered in treatment decisions.

SUBMITTER: Zickgraf HF

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7745711 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Examining vegetarianism, weight motivations, and eating disorder psychopathology among college students.

Zickgraf Hana F HF Hazzard Vivienne M VM O'Connor Shannon M SM Simone Melissa M Williams-Kerver Gail A GA Anderson Lisa M LM Lipson Sarah K SK

The International journal of eating disorders 20200704 9

<h4>Objective</h4>Previous research has suggested a link between vegetarianism, broadly defined, and symptoms of eating disorders (ED). However, the literature supporting this link is mixed and limited by possible measurement artifacts. Using data from a national sample of college students, the present study examines ED symptomatology among three groups: (a) vegetarians whose meat avoidance is motivated by weight concerns; (b) non-weight motivated vegetarians; and (c) nonvegetarians.<h4>Method</ ...[more]

PMID: 32621566

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Project description:BackgroundInefficient mechanisms of emotional regulation appear essential in understanding the development and maintenance of binge-eating disorder (BED). Previous research focused mainly on a very limited emotion regulation strategies in BED, such as rumination, suppression, and positive reappraisal. Therefore, the aim of the study was to assess a wider range of emotional regulation strategies (i.e. acceptance, refocusing on planning, positive refocusing, positive reappraisal, putting into perspective, self-blame, other-blame, rumination, and catastrophizing), as well as associations between those strategies and binge-eating-related beliefs (negative, positive, and permissive), and clinical variables (eating disorders symptoms, both anxiety, depressive symptoms, and alexithymia).MethodsWomen diagnosed with BED (n = 35) according to the DSM-5 criteria and healthy women (n = 41) aged 22-60 years were assessed using: the Eating Attitudes Test-26, the Eating Beliefs Questionnaire-18, the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, the Toronto Alexithymia Scale-20, the Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire, and the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale. Statistical analyses included: Student t - tests or Mann-Whitney U tests for testing group differences between BED and HC group, and Pearson's r coefficient or Spearman's rho for exploring associations between the emotion regulation difficulties and strategies, and clinical variables and binge-eating-related beliefs in both groups.ResultsThe BED group presented with a significantly higher level of emotion regulation difficulties such as: nonacceptance of emotional responses, lack of emotional clarity, difficulties engaging in goal-directed behavior, impulse control difficulties, and limited access to emotion regulation strategies compared to the healthy controls. Moreover, patients with BED were significantly more likely to use maladaptive strategies (rumination and self-blame) and less likely to use adaptive strategies (positive refocusing and putting into perspective). In the clinical group, various difficulties in emotion regulation difficulties occurred to be positively correlated with the level of alexithymia, and anxiety and depressive symptoms. Regarding emotion regulation strategies, self-blame and catastrophizing were positively related to anxiety symptoms, but solely catastrophizing was related to the severity of eating disorder psychopathology.ConclusionsOur results indicate an essential and still insufficiently understood role of emotional dysregulation in BED. An especially important construct in this context seems to be alexithymia, which was strongly related to the majority of emotion regulation difficulties. Therefore, it might be beneficial to pay special attention to this construct when planning therapeutic interventions, as well as to the maladaptive emotion regulation strategies self-blame and catastrophizing, which were significantly related to BED psychopathology.

Dataset Information

Examining vegetarianism, weight motivations, and eating disorder psychopathology among college students.

Objective

Method

Results

Discussion

Publications

Examining vegetarianism, weight motivations, and eating disorder psychopathology among college students.

Similar Datasets

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