DOI
https://doi.org/10.25772/RVSY-YB26
Author ORCID Identifier
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8101-2278
Defense Date
2025
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science
Department
Psychology
First Advisor
Dr. Ann F Haynos
Abstract
Dietary restriction, the problematic reduction of caloric or macronutrient intake, is a critical eating behavior occurring transdiagnostically across eating disorders and subclinical disordered eating. The definition of dietary restriction is highly heterogeneous, and restriction is often conflated with other distinct constructs, such as dietary restraint. The current practices related to the definition and measurement of dietary restriction have notable flaws, negatively impacting the ability to identify and establish risk, diagnosis, and treatment of eating disorders. There is also limited evidence that commonly-used dietary restriction measures can validly predict food choice and objective intake. These issues raise questions about whether dietary restriction is a unitary construct or multiple distinct constructs that may be differentially related to adverse outcomes. This thesis examined these issues by performing secondary dimension reduction data analysis from adult participants (N = 89), including individuals with acute anorexia nervosa (AN; n = 18), weight-restored anorexia nervosa (AN-WR; n = 40), and healthy controls (HCs; n = 31), to identify factors of dietary restriction and their relations to clinical variables. First, dimension reduction was performed using Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) on participants’ item-level responses to several measures associated with dietary restriction and restraint to capture different facets of restrictive eating. Subsequently, linear regression analyses examined the relations between resulting dimensions and short- and longer-term indices of objective restriction and affective symptoms. The EFA yielded a two-factor structure wherein one factor comprised cognitive and behavioral elements of dietary restriction (i.e., Cognitive and Behavioral Restriction factor) and the second factor comprised affective and behavioral elements of dietary restriction (i.e., Affective Restriction). Both factors predicted caloric intake, but the Cognitive and Behavioral Restriction factor predicted lower caloric intake (B = -175.63, SE = 63.89, p = .008), whereas the Affective Restriction factor predicted higher caloric intake (B = 354.65, SE = 161.90, p = .032). Only the Cognitive and Behavioral Restriction factor predicted cross-sectional BMI (p = .005). Both factors predicted cross-sectional depressive symptoms (ps = p = .005). Neither factor predicted follow-up BMI (ps = .740 to .799) affective symptoms (ps = .061 to .904). These findings provide additional evidence to support the multi-dimensional nature of restrictive eating, suggesting that the construct of restrictive eating may comprise cognitive, behavioral, and affective elements that may be associated with differential outcomes.
Rights
© The Author
Is Part Of
VCU University Archives
Is Part Of
VCU Theses and Dissertations
Date of Submission
4-18-2025