Adult picky eating. Phenomenology, taste sensitivity, and psychological correlates.
OBJECTIVE
To explore psychosocial correlates of picky eating in adults, document differences in the taste sensitivity of picky and non-picky eating adults, and examine behavioral characteristics of this understudied phenomenon.


METHODS
In Study One, 489 participants completed a survey on food choice and habits, including questions that asked participants to self-identify as picky eaters. Picky and non-picky eaters were compared on their rates of endorsement of a range of food selection behaviors and attitudes. In Study Two, participants who identified as either picky or non-picky responded to questionnaire measures of obsessive compulsive disorder, depression, disordered eating symptoms, disgust sensitivity, and food and general neophobia. Participants also rated the intensity of bitter and sweet solutions at three concentrations on a Labeled Magnitude Scale.


RESULTS
In Study One, picky eaters were more likely to endorse a variety of anomalous eating behaviors and attitudes toward food, including rejection of foods based on sensory characteristics (taste, color, texture). Picky eaters were less likely to endorse enjoyment of eating, and more likely to report that they were unhealthy eaters. In Study Two, picky eaters had significantly higher OCD symptoms, disgust sensitivity, and food neophobia than non-picky eaters, and were more likely to score within the clinical range of depression symptoms, but did not have higher scores on measures of disordered eating or general neophobia. Picky eaters rated both bitter and sweet tastants as more intense than did non-picky eaters.


CONCLUSIONS
Implications of findings for the future study of the correlates and mechanisms of Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder are discussed.
University of Pennsylvania, USA.
Jane
J
Kauer
Monell Chemical Senses Center, USA.
Marcia L
ML
Pelchat
University of Pennsylvania, USA.
Paul
P
Rozin
University of Pennsylvania, USA. Electronic address: zickgraf@sas.upenn.edu.
Hana F
HF
Zickgraf
D000328:Adult; D003863:Depression / Q000523:psychology; D004435:Eating / Q000523:psychology*; D005247:Feeding Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D001068:Feeding and Eating Disorders / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D005518:Food Preferences / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009771:Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder / Q000523:psychology; D010698:Phobic Disorders / Q000523:psychology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013649:Taste; D055697:Taste Perception; D055815:Young Adult
A/RFID; Avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder; Depression; Disgust; Obsessive compulsive disorder; Picky eating