Interactive effects between flexible and rigid control of eating behavior on body weight: a moderated serial multiple mediation model

Background Cognitive restraint of eating can be subdivided into rigid control and flexible control of eating behavior. Flexible control appears to be a more favorable dieting strategy as it relates to lower disinhibited eating and body mass index (BMI), while the opposite is found for rigid control. Yet, previous findings also suggest interactive effects between the two such that rigid control is particularly related to higher BMI when flexible control is low. Participants and procedure Data from a previously reported study (Meule, Westenhöfer, & Kübler, 2011) were reanalyzed to examine such interactive effects (N = 615, 76% female). Results Higher rigid control was particularly associated with more frequent and intense food cravings, lower perceived self-regulatory success in weight regulation, and higher BMI at low levels of flexible control. A moderated serial multiple mediation model revealed that rigid control had an indirect effect on BMI through food cravings and perceived self-regulatory success, particularly when flexible control was low. These interactive effects could largely be replicated in a second study with female participants (n = 70). Conclusions The current findings replicate and extend previous reports in that high flexible control may “compensate” for high rigid control, that is, attenuate the effect of rigid control on eating behaviors and body weight. They also provide insights into the mediating mechanisms that link rigid and flexible control of eating behavior with BMI.Background Cognitive restraint of eating can be subdivided into rigid control and flexible control of eating behavior. Flexible control appears to be a more favorable dieting strategy as it relates to lower disinhibited eating and body mass index (BMI), while the opposite is found for rigid control. Yet, previous findings also suggest interactive effects between the two such that rigid control is particularly related to higher BMI when flexible control is low. Participants and procedure Data from a previously reported study (Meule, Westenhöfer, & Kübler, 2011) were reanalyzed to examine such interactive effects (N = 615, 76% female). Results Higher rigid control was particularly associated with more frequent and intense food cravings, lower perceived self-regulatory success in weight regulation, and higher BMI at low levels of flexible control. A moderated serial multiple mediation model revealed that rigid control had an indirect effect on BMI through food cravings and perceived self-regulatory success, particularly when flexible control was low. These interactive effects could largely be replicated in a second study with female participants (n = 70). Conclusions The current findings replicate and extend previous reports in that high flexible control may “compensate” for high rigid control, that is, attenuate the effect of rigid control on eating behaviors and body weight. They also provide insights into the mediating mechanisms that link rigid and flexible control of eating behavior with BMI

How Prevalent is “Food Addiction”?

Increasing evidence suggests that binge eating-related disorders could be related to addiction-like eating patterns due to the addictive potential of hyperpalatable foods. Subsequently, important implications have been derived for treatment of those disorders and even political actions. However, studies on the prevalence of food addiction are rare. Few recent studies investigated addictive eating in children, adolescents, and adults. This mini-review presents these first attempts to assess addictive eating and how prevalent addictive eating patterns were in the respective studies. It is concluded that the prevalence of food addiction is increased in obese individuals and even more so in obese patients with binge eating disorder. However, prevalence of food addiction is not sufficient to account for the obesity epidemic. Conversely, an arguably high prevalence of food addiction can also be found in under-, normal-, and overweight individuals. Future studies may investigate which factors are associated with addictive eating in non-obese individuals

The Psychology of Food Cravings: the Role of Food Deprivation

PURPOSE OF REVIEW Dieting is often blamed for causing food cravings. Such diet-induced cravings may be mediated by physiological (e.g., nutritional deprivation) or psychological (e.g., ironic effects of food thought suppression) mechanisms. However, this notion is often based on cross-sectional findings and, thus, the causal role of food deprivation on food cravings is unclear. RECENT FINDINGS Experimental studies suggest that a short-term, selective food deprivation seems to indeed increase cravings for the avoided foods. However, experimental studies also show that food craving can be understood as a conditioned response that, therefore, can also be unlearned. This is supported by intervention studies which indicate that long-term energy restriction results in a reduction of food cravings in overweight adults. Dieting's bad reputation for increasing food cravings is only partially true as the relationship between food restriction and craving is more complex. While short-term, selective food deprivation may indeed increase food cravings, long-term energy restriction seems to decrease food cravings, suggesting that food deprivation can also facilitate extinction of conditioned food craving responses

Twenty Years of the Food Cravings Questionnaires: a Comprehensive Review

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:sec> <jats:title>Purpose of Review</jats:title> <jats:p>The Food Cravings Questionnaires (FCQs; Cepeda-Benito, Gleaves, Williams, & Erath, 2000) are among the most widely used instruments for measuring food cravings. In addition to the Food Cravings Questionnaire–Trait (FCQ–T) and the Food Cravings Questionnaire–State (FCQ–S), several modified versions have been developed as well. For their 20th anniversary, this article provides a comprehensive description of the FCQs and reviews studies on their psychometric properties and correlates.</jats:p> </jats:sec><jats:sec> <jats:title>Recent Findings</jats:title> <jats:p>The FCQs and their modified versions have excellent internal reliability. Expectedly, the FCQ–T (and its derivatives) has higher retest-reliability than the FCQ–S as the FCQ–S is sensitive to situational changes such as food deprivation and food intake. However, while the FCQ–T is largely unaffected by such momentary states, it is also sensitive to change during weight-loss treatments and other interventions. Factor structure of the FCQ–T and FCQ–S has only partially been replicated. Construct validity of the FCQs is supported by experimental and longitudinal studies that measured food craving and food consumption in the laboratory and with ecological momentary assessment.</jats:p> </jats:sec><jats:sec> <jats:title>Summary</jats:title> <jats:p>Numerous studies support reliability and validity of the FCQs and their modified versions, yet findings about their factor structures are inconsistent. Thus, using total scores or the short versions of the FCQs may be preferable.</jats:p> </jats:sec&gt

Life satisfaction in persons with mental disorders

PURPOSE Life satisfaction refers to a cognitive and global evaluation of the quality of one's life as a whole. The arguably most often used measure of life satisfaction is the Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS). Persons with mental disorders generally report lower SWLS scores than healthy controls, yet there is a lack of studies that have compared different diagnostic groups, tested measurement invariance of the SWLS across these groups, and examined effects of treatment on life satisfaction. METHODS Data of 9649 inpatients of seven diagnostic categories were analyzed: depressive episode, recurrent depressive disorder, phobic disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder, trauma-related disorders, somatoform disorders, and eating disorders. RESULTS The one-factor structure of the SWLS was replicated and full measurement invariance was demonstrated across groups. Patients with trauma-related disorders reported the lowest life satisfaction. Life satisfaction significantly increased during treatment across all groups and these changes were moderately related to changes in depressive symptoms. CONCLUSIONS Results support the excellent psychometric properties of the SWLS. They also demonstrate that although persons with mental disorder generally report lower life satisfaction than persons without mental disorders, life satisfaction also varies considerably between different diagnostic groups. Finally, results show that life satisfaction increases during inpatient treatment, although at discharge most patients have rarely reached levels of life satisfaction reported in non-clinical samples

The Translation of Substance Dependence Criteria to Food-Related Behaviors: Different Views and Interpretations

No abstract available

Seasonal and subtype differences in body mass index at admission in inpatients with anorexia nervosa

Objective In the general population, body weight is—on average—higher in the winter than in the summer. In patients with anorexia nervosa (AN), however, the opposite pattern has been reported. Yet, only a handful of studies exist to date that suffer from small sample sizes and inconsistent results. Therefore, the current study examined seasonal effects on body weight in a large sample of patients with AN to dissolve previous inconsistencies. Method Clinical records of N = 606 inpatients (95.4% female) who received AN treatment at the Schoen Clinic Roseneck (Prien am Chiemsee, Germany) between 2014 and 2019 were analyzed. Results Patients with restrictive type AN had lower body mass index at admission in the winter than in the summer. This difference was not found for patients with binge/purge type AN and patients with atypical AN. Discussion Individuals with restrictive type AN show seasonal variations in body weight that are opposite to seasonal variations in body weight in individuals without AN. These seasonal effects are specific to the restrictive subtype and cannot be found for the binge/purge or atypical subtypes. Future studies that replicate this effect in other cultures or latitudes and that examine the mediating mechanisms are needed