Vegetarianism, dietary restraint and feminist identity

doi:10.1016/j.eatbeh.2005.08.002

Eating Behaviors

Volume 7, Issue 2, May 2006, Pages 91-104

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eatbeh.2005.08.002 Get rights and content

Abstract

Objective

Research examining the relationship between dietary restraint and vegetarianism has yielded inconsistent results due to differing definitions of vegetarianism and the possible modifying role of feminist identity. The current study sought to further clarify these relationships by examining three levels of vegetarianism, motivation for vegetarianism, and feminist identity (using an updated measure).

Method

Participants were 90 female undergraduate students and community members (mean age = 24.34 years). Dietary restraint was measured using the TFEQ; feminism was assessed using the LFAIS.

Results

Weight-motivated semi-vegetarians reported higher levels of dietary restraint than those not motivated by weight. This effect did not appear among full-vegetarians. Lowest levels of dietary restraint were found among full-vegetarians with no difference between non- and semi-vegetarians. Contrary to previous research, feminist identity did not moderate the relationship between dietary restraint and vegetarianism.

Discussion

Limitations resulting from a scale with a narrow definition of feminism and the use of multiple sources of recruitment are discussed. Directions for future research are highlighted.

Section snippets

Vegetarianism and dietary restraint

Vegetarianism has been positively associated with both dietary restraint (Barr et al., 1994, Gilbody et al., 1999, Martins et al., 1999, Worsley & Skrzypiec, 1997) and extreme dieting behaviors (e.g., purging), especially among adolescents (Perry, McGuire, Neumark-Sztainer, & Story, 2001). A link also exists between vegetarianism and eating disorder symptomotology, including disordered attitudes about eating and interpersonal distrust (Lindeman, Stark, & Latvala, 2000). The adoption of a

Feminism, vegetarianism, and dietary restraint

In addition to level of vegetarianism and motivation behind the vegetarianism serving as possible modifiers of the dietary restraint — vegetarianism relationship, Martins et al. (1999) also identified a link between a vegetarianism, dietary restraint, and feminist identity among adult females. This study examined whether the adoption of a vegetarian diet may serve as a covert means of dieting for weight loss, and specifically explored the possible role of feminism as a moderator of the dietary

Goals of the current study

The current study seeks to replicate the findings of Martins et al. (1999) while addressing some of the limitations identified above. Participants completed questionnaires that assessed dietary restraint, level of vegetarianism, motivation for food choices, and level of feminism. Based on current theories and the findings of previous research, this study tested three hypotheses. First, level of dietary restraint among semi- and full-vegetarians will vary according to motivation for food

Participants

Participants consisted of both students and faculty from the University of Northern Colorado (UNCO), as well as community members from Boulder, CO. A total of 90 females completed the survey (UNCO Participants = 64). The ethnic breakdown was 92.2% (n = 83) Caucasian, 2.2% (n = 2) Hispanic/Latina, 2.2% Asian (n = 2), 1.1% Native American (n = 1), 1.1% (n = 1) identified as ‘Other’, and 1.1% (n = 1) undisclosed. Participant ages ranged from 18 – 57 (M = 24.34, S.D. = 7.86); participants from UNCO were

Results

Analyses were conducted using averaged scores for the dietary restraint and feminism scales. All scores were standardized prior to analysis. In the instance of missing data within a scale, within-participant averages were calculated and inserted for the missing values. Given the level of difficulty involved in locating and recruiting vegetarian participants, this methodology was considered preferable to dropping participants who failed to complete all items.

Because there were only five vegans

Motivation for vegetarianism

The first hypothesis stating that vegetarians who cite weight as a motivating factor for vegetarianism would also endorse higher dietary restraint was supported only among semi-vegetarians. Semi-vegetarians who cited weight as one of the top three reasons behind their eating style reported significantly higher levels of dietary restraint than did non-weight motivated semi-vegetarians and both weight-motivated and non-weight-motivated full vegetarians. Therefore, semi-vegetarians' self-disclosed

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Lora Schlewitt-Haynes for her helpful feedback throughout all stages of this study and William Douglas Woody for his assistance with statistical analyses and editing. We also wish to extend our gratitude to all of the participants in this study, without whom this work would not have been possible.

This study was conducted in completion of the undergraduate honor's requirements at the University of Northern Colorado.

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Meat consumption & positive mental health: A scoping review
2024, Preventive Medicine Reports
The objective of this scoping review was to examine the breadth of the existing literature on the relation between meat consumption or meat abstention and positive psychological functioning. In April 2022, we conducted a systematic search of online databases (PubMed, PsycINFO, CINAHL Plus, Medline, Cochrane Library, and Web of Science) for primary research examining positive psychological functioning in meat consumers and those who abstain from meat. Thirteen studies met the inclusion/exclusion criteria, representing 89,138 participants (54,413 females and 33,863 males) with 78,562 meat consumers and 10,148 meat abstainers (13–102 years) from multiple geographic regions. The primary outcomes were life satisfaction, “positive mental health”, self-esteem, and vigor. The secondary outcomes were “meaning in life”, optimism, positive emotions, and psychological well-being. Eight of the 13 studies demonstrated no differences between the groups on positive psychological functioning, three studies showed mixed results, and two studies showed that compared to meat abstainers, meat consumers had greater self-esteem, “positive mental health”, and “meaning in life”. Studies varied substantially in methods and outcomes. Although a small minority of studies showed that meat consumers had more positive psychological functioning, no studies suggested that meat abstainers did. There was mixed evidence for temporal relations, but study designs precluded causal inferences. Our review demonstrates the need for future research given the equivocal nature of the extant literature on the relation between meat consumption and meat abstention and positive psychological functioning.
Vegetarianism and weight status: What are the differences in eating styles, impulsivity, and emotional competences? A preliminary study
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Citation Excerpt :
These eating styles are interrelated and positively correlated with BMI [14]. Moreover, some vegetarians, such as flexitarians and semi-vegetarians, engage in higher levels of restrained eating do omnivores, as their main motivation for adopting this diet is weight loss [15–17]. According to Macht [18], negative emotions reduce the ability of restrained eaters to deprive themselves because their cognitive resources are already mobilized by managing their emotions.
Recent studies suggest that vegetarian diets may be recommended to promote weight loss in individuals living with obesity. However, limited studies have examined psychological factors (e.g., eating styles, impulsivity) among individuals who have adopted this type of diet, even though these factors are known to play a role in being overweight. The primary objective of the present study was to compare these characteristics in participants living with obesity or those with normal-weight across diet types. Participants were recruited from two hospital nutrition departments and the general population. They completed a diagnostic interview assessing the presence of an eating disorder, followed by self-administered questionnaires measuring dysfunctional eating styles (DEBQ), impulsivity (UPPS), and emotional competence (PEC). Vegetarian participants living with obesity engaged in more dysfunctional eating styles than did normal-weight omnivores and experienced more emotional difficulties than did both normal-weight omnivores and vegetarians. In contrast, there were no significant differences between omnivore participants living with obesity and those in the other groups. Moreover, participants living with obesity had comparable emotion regulation abilities to normal-weight participants. These results suggest that emotion regulation deficits can more likely be explained by the presence of psychopathological traits than by being overweight or one’s choice of diet.
Vegetarianism, veganism for food and for lifestyle: Are eating behaviors one source of identity construct? A qualitative study in French population
2021, Psychologie Francaise
L’objectif de l’étude est de mettre en évidence l’existence d’un lien entre alimentation et identité. Les participants ont été recrutés par le biais de groupes Facebook portant sur le végétarisme, végétalisme et véganisme, une fois l’accord des administrateurs obtenu. Six entretiens ont été réalisés, retranscrits et analysés via le logiciel TROPES. L’usage majeur des verbes d’état et d’identité (être, devenir, « je ») ainsi que du pronom personnel « on », renvoie à une construction identitaire à la fois individuelle et collective autour de l’alimentation. Et, bien que la motivation principalement rapportée soit éthique, les participants ont spontanément abordé la question du poids et du corps. Quelle que soit l’histoire alimentaire des participants, des identifications aux troubles liés à l’image corporelle ou aux catégories de poids ont précédé l’identification à une alimentation spécifique. Or, l’adoption du végétarisme (au sens large) semble associée à une amélioration de l’estime de soi et de la perception de soi.
These last years have been marked by an evolution as to how people feed themselves, highlighting a growing interest for vegetarian food. Vegetarianism at large refers to several types of food that are characterized by the partial or total exclusion of animal foods. This study aims at relating various elements associated to vegetarianism, such as eating motives, behaviors, self-perception and others’ perception, in relation with the notion of identity.
Participants were recruited via vegetarian and vegan (for food and for lifestyle) groups on Facebook, once their agreement was obtained. Six interviews were conducted by a clinical psychologist around the notion of being and identity related to food, as well as the food history of the individual and his/her family. The use of retrospective investigation makes possible to establish a continuity between the past and the current eating behavior. These interviews, once manually transcribed, were the subject of a complex semantic analysis via TROPES software (version 8.4).
The results showed a major use of state's and identity's verbs (being, becoming, “I”) and the personal pronoun “we”, referring to a construction of both individual and collective identity around the diet. The commitment to vegetarian/vegan diet has been primarily motivated by ethical concern. And, positive feelings have emerged following the adoption of this type of diet, such as pride, inner purity and a sense of being healthy and holy. Despite the fact that their diet is ethically focused, participants spontaneously addressed the issue of weight and body image.
Whatever the food's history of participants, identifications to disorders related to body image or identifications to weight categories have preceded the identification to a specific diet. And the following of a vegetarian/vegan diet appears at the base of positive feelings toward oneself and a better self-esteem. So, we can assume that adopting a vegetarian/vegan diet could improve self-perception. Otherwise, the ethical choice mentioned by the participants, may be an acceptable sociable justification to control more or less the fate of their body (inside and outside). More research is needed to better understand the underlying mechanisms of vegetarian/vegan diet, to explore the personality profiles of individuals and their relation to the body.
Vegetarian and omnivorous diets: A cross-sectional study of motivation, eating disorders, and body shape perception
2021, Appetite
Citation Excerpt :
This discrepancy may be explained by the fact that some participants in the vegetarian group were recruited on social media platforms geared toward veganism and abolitionism, which put forward strong ethical convictions. As previously suggested, the desire to lose or control weight may be hidden behind a more socially acceptable justification: the desire to adopt an ethical diet (Curtis & Comer, 2006; Fox & Ward, 2008; Hoffman et al., 2013). Moreover, it should be noted that the vegetarian participants had been following this diet for a significant time period.
Vegetarianism, which is increasingly widespread in Western societies, is underpinned by various motivations (ethical, environmental, health concerns …) and the question of its association with eating disorders continues to divide the literature.
This cross-sectional study aimed to explore and compare eating motives/attitudes and bodily preoccupations of vegetarian and omnivorous participants from the general population. Forty-nine vegetarians and 52 omnivores, aged between 18 and 70 years, completed a battery of questionnaires including sociodemographic characteristics, Body Mass Indexes (BMI - current, ideal, lifetime lowest, and lifetime highest), the Food Choice Questionnaire (FCQ), the Eating Attitudes Test-26 (EAT-26), and the Body Shape Questionnaire (BSQ).
Compared to omnivores, vegetarians reported lower current (p = .017), ideal (p = .009), and lifetime lowest (p = .005) BMIs, more motivations related to health (p = .001) and natural content (p < .0001), but less weight control motivations (p = .015). While no differences were observed in EAT-26 scores, vegetarians had lower BSQ total scores (p = .043), and lower scores on the Body Dissatisfaction related to Lower body parts (p = .025) and Unsuited Cognitions and Behaviors (p = .015) subscales compared to omnivores. Separate gender comparisons revealed that these differences existed only among women. Hierarchical regressions revealed that the natural content motivation was the strongest positive statistical predictor of the vegetarian group (Expβ = 1.18, p = .002), while the weight control motivation was a negative statistical predictor (Expβ = .710, p = .023).
Results demonstrated that vegetarians expressed motivation for a healthy and natural diet, and were less concerned about controlling their weight than the omnivores. Vegetarian women had lower BMIs but expressed fewer psychological concerns associated with eating disorders than omnivorous women. Vegetarian diets appeared to be associated with health benefits and less body and weight concerns, particularly among women in the general population.
Eating and health behaviors in vegans compared to omnivores: Dispelling common myths
2017, Appetite
Citation Excerpt :
Researchers have used a range of measures to quantify pathological and other eating behaviors in meat avoiders. These include the Eating Disorder Examination-Questionnaire (Bardone-Cone et al., 2012; Timko et al., 2012; Zuromski et al., 2015), the Eating Attitudes Test and its shortened version (Bas et al., 2005; Fisak et al., 2006; Forestell et al., 2012; Klopp et al., 2003; Lindeman et al., 2000; Timko et al., 2012; Trautmann et al., 2008), the Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire (Fisak et al., 2006; Gilbody et al., 1998; McLean & Barr, 2003; Timko et al., 2012; Trautmann et al., 2008), the Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire (Barr et al., 1994; Curtis & Comer, 2006; Fisak et al., 2006; Forestell et al., 2012; Janelle & Barr, 1995; Kahleova, Hrachovinova, Hill, & Pelikanova, 2013; Martins et al., 1999; McLean & Barr, 2003; Moore, McGrievy, & Turner-McGrievy, 2015), and a variety of unstandardized questions (Estima, Philippi, Leal, Pimentel, & Alvarenga, 2012; Robinson-O'Brien, Perry, Wall, Story, & Neumark-Sztainer, 2009). Of note, even studies using the same measures to capture symptoms of disordered eating behavior have at times reported conflicting findings (e.g., Bas et al., 2005; Timko et al., 2012), suggesting that more research is needed to resolve some of the current debate about possible links between meat avoidance and disordered eating.
Studies comparing eating behaviors in individuals avoiding meat and other animal products to omnivores have produced largely inconclusive findings, in part due to a failure to obtain sufficiently large samples of vegan participants to make meaningful comparisons. This study examined eating and health behaviors in a large community sample of dietary vegans (“vegans”), compared to omnivores. Participants (n = 578, 80.4% female) completed an online questionnaire assessing a range of eating- and other health-related attitudes and behaviors. Vegans (62.0%, n = 358) and omnivores (38.1%, n = 220) were comparable in terms of demographics. Vegans scored significantly lower than omnivores the Eating Disorder Examination - Questionnaire (multivariate p < 0.001), a measure of pathological eating behavior. They also were more likely to consider themselves “healthy” (p < 0.001) and to prepare food at home (p < 0.001). Vegans more frequently consumed fruits, vegetables, nuts, beans and grains (all p < 0.001), and less frequently consumed caffeinated soft drinks (p < 0.001). There were no significant differences between vegans and omnivores on measures of eating styles, body mass index, smoking or exercise behaviors, or problems related to alcohol consumption. Effect sizes for comparisons on eating-related measures were generally small, with $η_{p}^{2}$ ranging from <0.01 to 0.05; the size of effects for comparisons on measures of other health behaviors ranged from small to medium (Φ = 0.09 to 0.33 and $η_{p}^{2}$ < 0.01 to 0.42). Taken together, findings suggest that ultimately, vegans do not differ much from omnivores in their eating attitudes and behaviors, and when they do, differences indicate slightly healthier attitudes and behaviors towards food. Similarly, vegans closely resembled omnivores in non-eating related health behaviors.
Vegetarian Diets: Definitions and Pitfalls in Interpreting Literature on Health Effects of Vegetarianism
2017, Vegetarian and Plant-Based Diets in Health and Disease Prevention
To evaluate concepts, determinants, and health effects of vegetarian diets, a unified, clear, and operational definition is needed. Vegetarianism refers to the exclusion of meat, fish, seafood, and possibly other animal products such as dairy and eggs. A variety of combinations of avoidance of animal products exists. There is no congruence in the scientific literature on how to define and measure different types and strictness of vegetarianism, and self-definitions by vegetarians are even more diverse. This inconsistency in definition and operationalization of vegetarianism leads to difficulties in interpreting scientific publications on health effects of vegetarianism. In this chapter, we will provide a set of definitions as a contribution for a more consistent approach and we will highlight a few classical pitfalls in interpreting data on health effects of vegetarian diets.

View all citing articles on Scopus

^☆: Paper presented at annual conference of the Rocky Mountain Psychological Association, Spring 2004; Reno, NV.

¹: Morgan J Curtis is now at the School of Social Work, University of Texas at Austin.

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Vegetarianism, dietary restraint and feminist identity☆

Abstract

Objective

Method

Results

Discussion

Section snippets

Vegetarianism and dietary restraint

Feminism, vegetarianism, and dietary restraint

Goals of the current study

Participants

Results

Motivation for vegetarianism

Acknowledgements

American Journal of Clinical Nutrition

Appetite

Appetite

Appetite

Journal of Adolescent Health

Appetite

Journal of Psychosomatic Research

Nutrition Research

The sexual politics of meat: A feminist-vegetarian critical theory

Ecofeminism and the eating of animals

Hypatia

Comments on George's “should feminists be vegetarians?”

Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society

The comparative psychometric properties of the three measures of dietary restraint

Psychological Assessment