The role of dieting, psychopathological characteristics and maladaptive personality traits in Orthorexia Nervosa

Abstract

Background Pursuing a healthy diet is not a dysfunctional behavior, but dieting could be an important etiological factor for Orthorexia Nervosa (ON). The aim of this study was to investigate the role of diet in groups with high/low orthorexic tendencies. Moreover, some psychopathological characteristics associated with ON and maladaptive personality traits were investigated. Methods The sample consisted of three groups: two were on a diet and had high (HIGH-D; n = 52) or low (LOW-D; n = 41) orthorexic tendencies. The other was composed of people with high orthorexic tendencies not on a diet (HIGH; n = 40). Participants filled out self-report questionnaires to investigate orthorexic tendencies, eating disorders features, obsessive–compulsive symptoms, perfectionism, depressive/anxious symptomatology, and maladaptive personality traits. Results The HIGH-D group showed more orthorexic tendencies than the HIGH group. More maladaptive personality traits and anxiety symptoms have been highlighted in HIGH and HIGH-D groups. The HIGH group had more eating disorder characteristics than other groups. Only the HIGH-D group showed more depressive symptoms than the LOW-D group. Conclusions The features of HIGH and LOW-D groups suggest that diet alone could not explain ON, even if it could be a possible factor related to ON. Therefore, people with high orthorexic tendencies, psychopathological features, and maladaptive personality traits could be in a prodromic condition for disordered eating habits and deserve clinical attention.

Healthy orthorexia, orthorexia nervosa, and personality traits in a community sample in Turkey

“…A study conducted with college students reported that all maladaptive personality traits (negative affectivity, detachment, disinhibition, psychoticism, antagonism) show higher scores in people with higher orthorexic tendencies than those with lower tendencies. 52 Several reasons could explain the differences between our results and previous data. First, our study's mean orthorexia nervosa scores were lower than in previous studies.…”

The factors associated with orthorexia nervosa in type 2 diabetes and their effect on diabetes self-management scores

“…However, it is not always easy to distinguish healthy eating motivations that may be beneficial for patients from ON. Another important point is that although dieting increases the ON tendency, it alone does not explain ON [ 35 ]. Psychopathological features and maladaptive personality traits should also be considered [ 35 ].…”

“…Another important point is that although dieting increases the ON tendency, it alone does not explain ON [ 35 ]. Psychopathological features and maladaptive personality traits should also be considered [ 35 ]. Alcohol, tobacco, and drug use, social media use, body dissatisfaction, body image, self-esteem, anxiety, depressive symptoms, health literacy are some of these factors [ 15 , 36 , 37 ].…”

“…Oberle and Lipschuetz [40] showed that ON symptomatology is unrelated to BMI, and it was positively correlated with perceived muscularity and negatively correlated with perceived body fat. Similar to BMI, results regarding gender are also inconsistent [21,29,35,38] Mills, in their review of ON-related psychosocial factors, stated that studies on factors such as age, gender, education level, and BMI showed conflicting results and emphasized that the psychometric properties of the methods used in ON assessment were poor [15]. Patients with diabetes have difficulties both in controlling their diabetes and maintaining an ideal body weight [41].…”

Algılanan Anne Reddi İle Ortoreksiya Arasındaki İlişkide Mükemmelliyetçiliğin ve Öz-Eleştirel Ruminasyonun Aracı Rolü: Kadın Örnekleminde Bir Model Testi

“…One of the variables most associated with orthorexia nervosa in the literature is perfectionism (Barnes & Caltabiano 2017, Muno 2020, Novara et al 2021, Brytek-Matera et al 2022, Novara et al 2022, Pratt et al 2022.…”