Measuring adult picky eating: The development of a multidimensional self-report instrument.

Abstract

A brief multidimensional measure of adult picky eating (PE) behavior was developed using a large U.S. adult sample. In addition, the study explored associations between specific aspects of adult PE behavior and psychosocial impairment in effort to support the inclusion of adults in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders-Fifth Edition (DSM-5) avoidant-restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID). The study included 3 phases of qualitative and quantitative data collection. Participants were 1,663 U.S. adults who completed online surveys. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were used to develop PE subscales. Associations among the PE subscales and measures of psychosocial impairment were examined. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis supported a 16-item 4-factor model of adult PE that included subscales of meal presentation, food variety, meal disengagement, and taste aversion. The measure also demonstrated convergence with previous measures of PE. The meal disengagement and meal presentation subscales demonstrated significant associations with social eating anxiety, anxiety sensitivity, eating related quality of life (QOL), and psychological flexibility. Meal disengagement alone was significantly associated with depressive symptoms. The Adult Picky Eating Questionnaire (APEQ) demonstrated sound psychometric properties and may be used to further investigate adult PE behavior. The relationships between adult PE and psychological impairment, particularly social anxiety, support the inclusion of ARFID in the DSM-5. (PsycINFO Database Record

A systematic scoping review of diagnostic validity in avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder

“…However, compared to patients with other eating disorders, ARFID patients have been reported to score significantly lower on the Children's Eating Attitudes Test (Nicely et al, ; Ornstein et al, ) and on all subscales of the Eating Attitudes Test and the Eating Disorder Inventory (Nakai et al, ). Notably, a couple of these studies (Ellis, Galloway, Webb, & Martz, ; Zickgraf & Ellis, ) utilize the highly opaque convenience samples of Amazon's Mechanical Turk web panel, the validity of which has, as seen above, been questioned (Landers & Behrend, ).…”

“…Notably, a couple of these studies (Ellis, Galloway, Webb, & Martz, 2017; utilize the highly opaque convenience samples of Amazon's Mechanical Turk web panel, the validity of which has, as seen above, been questioned (Landers & Behrend, 2015).…”

Food Choice Priorities Change Over Time and Predict Dietary Intake at the End of the First Year of College Among Students in the U.S.

“…Some of the items comprising the busy daily life and preferences scale, in particular taste and routine/what I’m used to eating, may be tapping into a related construct known as picky eating. Picky eating has been assessed in other studies with the Adult Picky Eating Questionnaire (APEQ) [ 31 ]. Similar to our findings with busy daily life and preferences FCP, picky eating has also been associated with lower amounts and variety of FV intake among college students [ 31 , 32 ].…”

Classifying and characterizing Chinese young adults reporting picky eating: A latent profile analysis

“…In toddlers, preschoolers, and school‐aged children, a recent review reported that nearly equivalent numbers of studies found small negative correlations and no relationship between PE and growth (Brown, Vander Schaaf, Cohen, Irby, & Skelton, ). In most published adult samples to date, there has been a null relationship between PE and BMI (e.g., Ellis, Galloway, et al, ; Ellis, Galloway, Webb, & Martz, ; Wildes et al, ; Zickgraf et al, ; Zickgraf & Ellis, ; Zickgraf & Schepps, ). While there may be a relationship between PE and psychosocial impairment (Ellis, Galloway, et al, ; Wildes et al, ), this association has been found to be attenuated after controlling for restrictive eating due to fear and low appetite (Zickgraf & Ellis, ).…”

“…Because the CIA was originally designed to capture impairment related to anorexia and bulimia nervosa, it includes items measuring impairment related to the physiological effects of starvation, as well as items measuring personal impairment and social impairment (e.g., Zickgraf & Ellis, ). Picky eating appears to be most strongly related to eating‐related social anxiety and social impairment (e.g., Ellis, Galloway, et al, ), and the psychosocial impacts of PE may best be captured by the Personal and Social subscales of the CIA. As PE can be associated with increased, decreased, or appropriate caloric intake (Zickgraf, Murray, et al, ), a substantial proportion of individuals with PE are unlikely to experience impairment related to starvation.…”