Examination of orthorexia and eating attitudes in vegetarian and omnivor feeding groups

The objective of this study is to examine the relationship between eating attitudes and orthorexia nervosa, which is defined as a healthy eating obsession, in vegetarian and omnivorous groups. In addition to the main objective of the study, it is also aimed to determine the effect of dietary choices on individuals' attitudes toward food and their eating behaviors in the light of the findings. A total of 491 vegetarian and omnivorous participants aged from 18 to 65 were involved in the study. Data collection tools of the study are Demographic Information Form, Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire (TFEQ-R21), and Orthorexia Nervosa Scale (ORTO- 11). In the data analysis, t-test and one-way analysis of variance test were used for independent samples to examine the relationship between dependent and independent variables. The homogeneity of the variances of the variables between the groups was evaluated using Levene's test; Tukey HSD test was used for the groups where differences were detected, and Pearson Correlation analysis was used to examine the relationship between the scales. The result of the analysis has shown a weak positive directional relationship (.441) between Orthorexia Nervosa Scale scores and cognitive restriction scores of the participants; a very weak positive directional relationship between Orthorexia Nervosa Scale scores and emotional eating (.244) and uncontrolled eating (.146) scores; a very weak positive directional relationship between cognitive restriction scores and emotional eating (.220) and uncontrolled eating (.099); and a moderate positive directional significant relationship between emotional eating scores and uncontrolled eating scores (.558). Whereas according to demographic characteristics, it is established that the emotional eating levels of the participants who are receiving psychological support were higher than the participants who already received psychological support in the past; that the emotional eating levels of the vegetarian-fed participants were higher than the omnivorous-fed participants, and that the cognitive restriction levels of the participants who are vegetarian-fed for ethical/moral reasons were lower than the participants who preferred a vegetarian diet for other reasons.