Examination of the Visceral Sensitivity Index: Further validation in a nonclinical sample and utility predicting disordered eating behaviors

The objective of this study is to 1) conduct an independent validation of the Visceral Sensitivity Index, originally developed for populations with irritable bowel syndrome, as a measure of gastric interoception in a diverse non-clinical college sample, and 2) examine associations between visceral sensitivity and a range of disordered eating behaviors among college students. In doing so, this study is largely a replication of Labus et al.’s (2007) validation of the Visceral Sensitivity Index in a diverse undergraduate population and an extension of Brown et al.’s (2021) validation of the Visceral Sensitivity Index in a sample of individuals with diagnosed eating disorders.