The interplay between interoceptive sensibility and mindfulness in eating behaviors and psychological distress: A person-centered study in a French community sample

Abstract

This study examined interoception and mindfulness as related processes in eating behaviors in a non-clinical population. The aim was to identify interoceptive sensibility and mindfulness clusters using a person-centered approach and to examine their associations with eating behaviors, eating disorder risk, body mass index, and psychological distress. An online survey was conducted in a French community sample of 381 adults. Participants completed validated self-report measures assessing interoceptive sensibility, mindfulness, eating behaviors, and psychological distress. Cluster analysis identified four distinct groups reflecting different combinations of interoceptive sensibility and mindfulness. Profiles characterized by higher mindfulness consistently showed more adaptive eating patterns, including lower emotional and external eating and greater reliance on internal cues, regardless of interoceptive levels. In contrast, clusters with lower mindfulness showed higher levels of emotional eating and psychological distress. Within these low mindfulness profiles, high interoception was associated with lower depressive symptoms, lower eating disorder risk, and normal-weight status. These findings suggest that mindfulness was consistently associated with adaptive eating and psychological outcomes across profiles, whereas interoceptive sensibility further differentiated outcomes among profiles characterized by lower mindfulness. Overall, the results highlight the importance of considering both interoceptive sensibility and mindfulness jointly to better understand variability in eating behaviors and psychological distress.