How can different psychological and behavioural constructs be used to personalise weight management? Development of...

The aim of this study was first, to explore whether distinct combinations of key psychological and eating-related characteristics, could be identified and, second, whether these styles were related to measures of dieting success such as weight status and the number of previous weight loss attempts. Participants were any person 18 years or older with access to the internet and were recruited through Facebook to complete a 30-min, online survey. The survey included 23 different measures of factors related to personality, eating behaviours and current weight management. 1047 (68.3% of starters) completed the full survey. These people were 82.4% female with a mean age of 42.54 years (SD = 14.07). Factor analysis using Maximum Likelihood Extraction method with Promax rotation resulted in the extraction of 5 novel factors: Temptation (including experiencing cravings and difficulty controlling eating); Foodie (higher engagement and involvement with food); Overthinking (neuroticism, behavioural inhibition and perfectionistic tendencies); Social (extroversion and agreeableness); Impulsivity (impulsivity, lower conscientiousness, higher fun-seeking). Each of the factors associated bivariately, and in the expected direction, with behaviours such as vegetable consumption, frequency of diet attempts, and self-rated health. Each possible diet style is described further and interpreted in the context of existing literature with a focus on how understanding these could help personalise future interventions. Future work will validate this structure in different samples.