Social motivation and sensory over-responsivity: Independent correlates of picky eating severity in early childhood
Year: 2026
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Objective: Picky eating is common in children, but when persistent, is predictive of Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID). Multiple factors have been individually associated with picky eating severity in early childhood, but these rarely have been modeled simultaneously, leaving the relative importance of each unclear. Rather than categorical ARFID diagnosis, this exploratory study used a dimensional measure of picky eating severity in early childhood, identifying independent psychological and clinical correlates of picky eating severity at ages when picky eating first becomes clinically relevant. Method: ) = 5.96(1.10)) were oversampled for rigid, perfectionistic, and overcontrolled traits. Although autism spectrum disorder (ASD) was exclusionary, subclinical autistic traits were assessed. Candidate psychiatric symptoms and psychological constructs, including depression, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autistic traits, sensory processing, disgust sensitivity, and overcontrol, were examined in linear regressions in relation to concurrent picky eating via the Nine Item ARFID Screen (NIAS-PE). Results: Individual linear regression models covarying for age demonstrated symptoms of depression, OCD, subclinical autistic traits, sensory over-responsivity, and overcontrolled temperament were each associated with picky eating severity. In a unified multivariable model, subclinical autistic traits (related primarily to social motivation deficits) and sensory over-responsivity emerged as the only independent correlates significantly associated with picky eating severity. Discussion: Subclinical ASD traits (particularly social motivation deficits) and sensory overresponsivity were independent correlates of dimensional picky eating severity at developmental ages when picky eating becomes non-normative. Findings should inform future work on ARFID risk stratification and treatment development.
Source: Appetite Disordered Eating
Institution: Washington University in St. Louis
Language: English
Subfield: Psychiatry and Mental health
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Funders: National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Taylor Family Institute for Innovative Psychiatric Research, Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis
Awards: Washington University Psychiatry Residency Research Education Program, Neural and behavioral trajectories of the overcontrolled phenotype: Associations with development, social context and psychiatric symptoms in early childhood, Neural mechanisms of sensory over-responsivity in children with and without ASD
OpenAlex ID: W7212174504