Some people try to shed weight by limiting food intake, a behavior referred to as "restrained eating." But are restrained eaters generally self-restrained in other aspects of life?

While often seen as a sign of disordered eating, research shows that restrained eating is not inherently harmful. When practiced within a balanced weight management plan, it can be an effective strategy for controlling weight without leading to eating disorders.

This highlights the importance of distinguishing between healthy food restraint and extreme, harmful behaviors.

The Study
This study combined information on restrained eating, personality, and self-esteem. It was conducted with over 4,000 university students in the United States. The research aimed to understand how different personality traits relate to the tendency to restrict food intake, a behavior often linked to efforts to control weight.

Researchers used established tools to measure personality (Five Factor Model) and self-esteem (Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale) alongside restrained eating behaviors (Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire). The findings revealed several interesting patterns, particularly in how certain personality traits are linked to food restraint.

The results showed that restrained eating was positively associated with traits like extraversion, diligence, and neuroticism. People high in diligence tend to be disciplined, which could help explain why they might be more likely to control their eating.

Likewise, neurotic individuals, who may be more prone to worry and anxiety, were also found to engage more in restrained eating, possibly due to concerns about their weight. Interestingly, extraversion, a trait linked to social assertiveness, was also related to a tendency to refuse food in social situations, such as rejecting offers to eat because of weight concerns.

An important aspect of the study was the focus on gender differences. While restrained eating was generally more strongly linked to lower self-esteem in women, the study's results suggest that both men and women engage in food restraint for similar underlying reasons, though these motivations may vary in intensity.

The study also explored the role of obesity in these relationships. One surprising finding was that neuroticism did not correlate with restrained eating in women with obesity, whereas it did in women without obesity.

This suggests that for women with obesity, concerns about body image may already be so pronounced that additional neurotic worries do not significantly influence eating behaviors. This contrasts with men and women without obesity, for whom higher levels of neuroticism were associated with more restrained eating.

Overall, this research offers a deeper understanding of how personality traits are linked to eating behaviors, particularly restrained eating. While it confirms some previous findings, it also highlights the importance of studying both men and women, as well as individuals with different body types, in understanding the complexities of eating behavior.

About the scientific paper:

First author: John B. Nezlek, USA
Published in: PLoS One. November 2024. 
Link to paper:https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0313406