Evaluating the Associations Between Personality Psychopathology and Heterogeneous Eating Disorder Behaviors: A Dimensional Approach

Studies examining the associations between categorical assessments of eating disorders (ED) and personality have produced some inconsistent findings. The present study aimed to clarify these inconsistencies by implementing a dimensional approach when assessing ED behaviors and personality psychopathology. Associations between pathological personality trait facets and heterogeneous ED behaviors (i.e., restriction, compensatory behaviors, and binge eating) were examined. Participants were 570 community adults (247 women) recruited through Mechanical Turk. The Personality Inventory for Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (PID-5), was used to assess the pathological personality trait facets. Items from two validated eating pathology scales were used to measure ED behaviors. Two structural equation models-an exploratory model and a theoretical model-were tested for each ED behavior. The exploratory model allowed all PID-5 personality facets to predict the ED behaviors. The theoretical models estimated paths from specific PID-5 facets to the ED behaviors. The theoretical model was an attempt to corroborate previous literature where distinct personality profiles have distinguished individuals with different EDs. The theoretical model was considered the most parsimonious model for all three ED behaviors, and each theoretical model revealed a pattern of significant associations with personality trait facets-restriction was significantly associated with higher rigid perfectionism, and binge eating was significantly associated with higher impulsivity and anxiousness. Only the significant associations with binge eating remained statistically significant when men and women were examined separately. When a dimensional model is applied, significant relationships emerge between heterogeneous ED behaviors and PID-5 trait facets.