F. Marijn Stok

Taking Stock of Self-Control: A Meta-Analysis of How Trait Self-Control Relates to a Wide Range of Behaviors

Given assertions of the theoretical, empirical, and practical importance of self-control, this meta-analytic study sought to review evidence concerning the relationship between dispositional self-control and behavior. The authors provide a brief overview over prominent theories of self-control, identifying implicit assumptions surrounding the effects of self-control that warrant empirical testing. They report the results of a meta-analysis of 102 studies (total N = 32,648) investigating the behavioral effects of self-control using the Self-Control Scale, the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale, and the Low Self-Control Scale. A small to medium positive effect of self-control on behavior was found for the three scales. Only the Self-Control Scale allowed for a fine-grained analysis of conceptual moderators of the self-control behavior relation. Specifically, self-control (measured by the Self-Control Scale) related similarly to the performance of desired behaviors and the inhibition of undesired behaviors, but its effects varied dramatically across life domains (e.g., achievement, adjustment). In addition, the associations between self-control and behavior were significantly stronger for automatic (as compared to controlled) behavior and for imagined (as compared to actual) behavior.

Taking Stock of Self-Control

Given assertions of the theoretical, empirical, and practical importance of self-control, this meta-analytic study sought to review evidence concerning the relationship between dispositional self-control and behavior. The authors provide a brief overview over prominent theories of self-control, identifying implicit assumptions surrounding the effects of self-control that warrant empirical testing. They report the results of a meta-analysis of 102 studies (total N = 32,648) investigating the behavioral effects of self-control using the Self-Control Scale, the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale, and the Low Self-Control Scale. A small to medium positive effect of self-control on behavior was found for the three scales. Only the Self-Control Scale allowed for a fine-grained analysis of conceptual moderators of the self-control behavior relation. Specifically, self-control (measured by the Self-Control Scale) related similarly to the performance of desired behaviors and the inhibition of undesired behaviors, but its effects varied dramatically across life domains (e.g., achievement, adjustment). In addition, the associations between self-control and behavior were significantly stronger for automatic (as compared to controlled) behavior and for imagined (as compared to actual) behavior.

Feeding Your Feelings: Emotion Regulation Strategies and Emotional Eating

The process by which emotions affect eating behavior emerges as one of the central unresolved questions in the field of emotional eating. The present studies address the hypothesis that the regulation strategies people use to deal with these emotions are responsible for increased eating. Negative emotions were induced and intake of comfort food and non—comfort food was measured by means of taste tests. Emotion induction was preceded by measuring individual differences in emotion regulation strategies (Study 1) or by instructions to regulate emotions in either an adaptive (reappraisal) or maladaptive (suppression) manner (Study 2). Study 3 also entailed a control condition without any regulation instructions. Relative to reappraisal and spontaneous expression, suppression led to increased food intake, but only of the comfort foods. Emotions themselves were not responsible for this effect. These findings provide new evidence that the way in which emotions are regulated affects eating behavior.

Minority talks: The influence of descriptive social norms on fruit intake

Previous research established that norms describing the behaviour of a majority (e.g. ‘many people consume too much alcohol’) can have ironic and unwanted effects on health behaviour. To date, no research has addressed the effects of minority descriptive norms (e.g. ‘only few people use sunscreen’), while such minority norms are frequently communicated to the public. The current studies investigate the effects of minority and majority norms on intended and actual fruit intake. University students received either minority or majority normative information describing fruit intake behaviour of a referent group. Identification strength with this referent group was measured (Study 1) or manipulated (Study 2). Results showed that, compared to majority norms, minority norms negatively affected fruit intake when participants strongly identify with the referent group. Moreover, absolute negative (minority norm) and positive (majority norm) effects of one-third portion of fruit were found compared to a no-norm condition. Since minority norms are often communicated with the intention of alarming people regarding their low engagement in health protective behaviour, the potential ironic effects of these minority norms should be taken into account when presenting such information to the public.

Access to excess: how do adolescents deal with unhealthy foods in their environment?

PURPOSE Easy access to unhealthy foods is believed to contribute to the current overweight epidemic. It remains unclear, however, how access to unhealthy foods is related to self-regulation of food intake. This study tests the hypothesis that using self-regulation strategies buffers the negative influences of easy access to unhealthy foods. METHODS Cross-sectional survey data from 2764 adolescents aged 10-17 years from four European countries (The Netherlands, UK, Poland and Portugal) about use of self-regulation strategies, access to unhealthy foods and intake of unhealthy foods (sweet and salty snacks and sugar-sweetened beverages) were used. RESULTS Both access to unhealthy foods and use of self-regulation strategies were independently, but in opposing directions, related to intake of unhealthy foods. Easy access to unhealthy food products was associated with higher consumption, but this effect could be attenuated by use of self-regulation strategies to facilitate healthy eating even when the food environment tempts one to do otherwise. CONCLUSIONS Health promotion policy and programs should not only address the food environment but could also teach young people better strategies to deal with it.

A Double Burden: Emotional Eating and Lack of Cognitive Reappraisal in Eating Disordered Women

OBJECTIVE To examine the influence of emotional eating and lack of cognitive reappraisal on eating pathology in women with binge-purge and restricting type eating disorders. METHOD Women with a diagnosis of anorexia or bulimia nervosa according to the DSM-IV-tr (n = 50) and non-clinical women without eating disorders (n = 52) were asked about emotional eating tendencies, adaptive emotion regulation strategies (cognitive reappraisal) and eating pathology symptoms. RESULTS In binge-purging women, emotional eating with limited use of cognitive reappraisal predicted level of eating pathology but not in the restricting and non-clinical women. DISCUSSION Emotional eating tendencies in combination with a low tendency to use cognitive reappraisal may influence the severity of eating pathology in individuals with binge-purge behaviours. Evidently, patients with these characteristics require a therapy that addresses adaptive emotion regulation skills.

Looking cool or attaining self-rule. Different motives for autonomy and their effects on unhealthy snack purchase §

Being integral to adolescent health, autonomy presumably also is related to adolescent unhealthy snacking. We distinguish two differently motivated forms of autonomy: agentic autonomy, driven by a motivation to self-regulate, and self-presentational autonomy, driven by motives of image cultivation. The present study aimed to investigate the differential associations of these two types of motivation with unhealthy snack purchase in a prospective study among 105 adolescents. Results confirmed that agentic autonomy correlated with less unhealthy snack purchase, while self-presentational autonomy correlated with increased unhealthy snack purchase in males but not in females. This supports the hypothesis that autonomy is related to adolescent unhealthy eating, but can do so in different ways.

The DONE framework: Creation, evaluation, and updating of an interdisciplinary, dynamic framework 2.0 of determinants of nutrition and eating

The question of which factors drive human eating and nutrition is a key issue in many branches of science. We describe the creation, evaluation, and updating of an interdisciplinary, interactive, and evolving “framework 2.0” of Determinants Of Nutrition and Eating (DONE). The DONE framework was created by an interdisciplinary workgroup in a multiphase, multimethod process. Modifiability, relationship strength, and population-level effect of the determinants were rated to identify areas of priority for research and interventions. External experts positively evaluated the usefulness, comprehensiveness, and quality of the DONE framework. An approach to continue updating the framework with the help of experts was piloted. The DONE framework can be freely accessed (http://uni-konstanz.de/DONE) and used in a highly flexible manner: determinants can be sorted, filtered and visualized for both very specific research questions as well as more general queries. The dynamic nature of the framework allows it to evolve as experts can continually add new determinants and ratings. We anticipate this framework will be useful for research prioritization and intervention development.

How norms work: Self-identification, attitude and self-efficacy mediate the relation between descriptive social norms and vegetable intake.

BACKGROUND The current studies aim to show that descriptive social norms influence vegetable intake and to investigate three potentially underlying processes (self-identification, attitude, and self-efficacy). METHODS In two studies, descriptive social norms regarding vegetable intake were manipulated (majority vs. minority norm). Study 1 investigated both the relation between baseline vegetable intake and self-identification, attitude, and self-efficacy, as well as the effect of the norm manipulation on vegetable intake over a one-week period. Study 2 investigated potential mediation of the effect of the manipulation on vegetable intake intentions through self-identification, attitude, and self-efficacy. RESULTS Study 1 showed that the proposed mediators were related to a baseline measure of vegetable intake. Moreover, in participants identifying strongly with the norm referent group, majority norms led to higher vegetable consumption than minority norms. Study 2 showed that the direct effect of the social norm manipulation on vegetable intake intentions was partly mediated by self-identification, attitude, and self-efficacy. CONCLUSIONS These studies shed first light on processes underlying the effect of descriptive social norms on health behavior. A norm describing the behavior of a salient social group leads people to identify more with, have more positive attitudes toward, and feel more self-efficacious regarding that behavior.

“I should remember I don’t want to become fat”: Adolescents’ views on self-regulatory strategies for healthy eating

Few studies have investigated the strategies adolescents identify to self-regulate eating behavior. Aiming to address this gap in the literature, the current article describes a bottom-up investigation of strategies adolescents identify for the successful self-regulation of eating behavior. Sixty-two adolescents generated statements about self-regulation strategies for eating and rated the utility of each statement. From an initial pool of 357 statements, thirteen overarching self-regulatory strategies were distilled (e.g. preparation; stimulus control). Significant differences were found between the strategies with regard to perceived utility. Findings indicate that, in apparent contradiction to growing obesity rates, adolescents have knowledge of various self-regulatory strategies. Possible explanations for this contradiction are discussed.