Subtyping weight-preoccupied overweight/obese women along restraint and negative affect

Previous clustering analysis performed among samples of bulimic or binge eating women have consistently yielded two subtypes (Dietary and Dietary-Depressive). The present study verifies whether this clustering solution could be replicated among weight-preoccupied overweight/obese women and compares the different clusters on personality-, eating- and weight-related variables. Cluster analysis was performed along dietary restraint and negative affect among a sample of 156 overweight/obese weight-preoccupied women. Results failed to replicate the original two-cluster solution, rather evidencing a three-cluster solution (Dietary, Depressive, Low-Dietary/Low-Depressive). Also, dietary restraint did not appear to be a core feature for all weight-preoccupied overweight/obese women as it is for eating-disordered women since only one group presented dietary restraint. The presence of a pure Depressive group and a pure Dietary group showed that dietary restraint and negative affect may act independently among our sample. In term of clinical severity, the Dietary group, even in the absence of high negative affect, occupied an intermediate position between the Low-Dietary/Low-Depressive and the Depressive group, the most impaired one, in accordance with previous studies. It thus suggests that other factors beside negative affect can contribute to eating and psychological impairment among overweight/obese women.