Skip to main content

Exploring the role of disgust sensitivity and propensity in selective eating.

Author
Abstract
:

While disgust is a clinically and theoretically relevant construct for selective eating, limited research has examined how different aspects of disgust relate to selective eating severity in adults. Thus, the present study sought to 1) compare disgust propensity (how easily people are disgusted) and disgust sensitivity (how unpleasant disgust is) across a spectrum of selective eaters, 2) explore the specificity of the associations between disgust sensitivity/propensity and selective eating across selective eating and related phenotypes, and 3) explore whether the relationship between selective eating and disgust is food-specific. Participants were 554 adults recruited on Amazon's Mechanical Turk who completed cross-sectional surveys on study constructs. The sample was recruited to over-represent individuals with high levels of selective eating. Results support that disgust propensity, but not sensitivity, was elevated in the impaired selective eating group compared to non-impaired selective eaters and non-selective eaters. Only the selective eating phenotype was independently associated with both disgust sensitivity and propensity. Correlation results supported that the associations between selective eating and disgust were specific to the disgust elicited by food (i.e., animal protein, fruits, vegetables). Overall, results support that disgust propensity and disgust sensitivity play a role in selective eating. Results imply that disgust sensitivity associated with selective eating appears limited to the food domain and may be more specific to disgust eliciting food itself, rather than signs of food contamination or spoilage.

Year of Publication
:
2022
Journal
:
Appetite
Volume
:
174
Number of Pages
:
106018
Date Published
:
2022
ISSN Number
:
0195-6663
URL
:
https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0195-6663(22)00109-X
DOI
:
10.1016/j.appet.2022.106018
Short Title
:
Appetite
Download citation