Jennifer S. Coelho

Effects of social contexts on overweight and normal-weight children's food intake.

This study investigates the effects of peer influence on the food intake of overweight and normal-weight children. A mixed factorial design was employed, with childrens weight status (overweight vs. normal-weight) as a between-subjects factor, and social context (alone vs. group) as a within-subjects factor. A total of 32 children (n=17 overweight and n=15 normal-weight) between the ages of 6-10 years participated in this study. Findings from the random regression model indicated that overweight children ate more when with others than when alone, while in contrast normal-weight ate more with others than they did when alone. Therefore, social context differentially impacts the eating behavior of overweight and normal-weight children. This study underscores differences in responses to the social environment between overweight and non-overweight youths, and suggests that social involvement may be an important tool in treatment and prevention programs for overweight and obesity.

Specificity of the failure to inhibit responses in overweight children

UNLABELLED Poor response inhibition has been associated with obesity, excessive food intake, and other consumptive behaviours, including alcohol use. However, the correlation between obesity and addictive behaviours like alcoholism is low: people who are obese appear to have a specific problem in restraining food intake. This would imply that obese people have more difficulties in inhibiting responses towards food, compared to other rewarding stimuli. In the present study 89 children (ages 7-9) were tested with the stop signal task, in which responses towards food pictures or toy pictures had to be inhibited. Results showed that children were less effective in inhibiting responses towards food and percentage overweight predicted a lower ability to inhibit responses in general. When dichotomizing the sample in overweight and lean children, it appeared that overweight children were specifically less effective in inhibition towards food cues, compared to lean children. IN CONCLUSION The results confirm weight related inhibitory problems and might explain the increased overeating to food cues in overweight children, as reported in the literature.

Caloric restriction in the presence of attractive food cues: external cues, eating, and weight.

A growing body of research on caloric restriction (CR) in many species of laboratory animals suggests that underfeeding leads to better health and longevity in the calorically-restricted animal (e.g., see [[34]. J.P. Pinel, S. Assanand and D.R. Lehman, (2000). Hunger, eating and ill health. Am Psychol, 55, 1105-1116.], for a review). Although some objections have been raised by scientists concerned about negative psychological and behavioral sequelae of such restriction, advocates of CR continue to urge people to adopt sharply reduced eating regimes in order to increase their longevity. Yet very few people are even attempting to reap the benefits of such restriction. The present paper explores one factor that may deter many humans from drastically reducing their food consumption--the presence of abundant, attractive food cues in the environment. Research on the influence of food cues on food-related behaviors is reviewed to demonstrate that the presence of food cues makes restriction of intake more difficult.

Eating Behavior in Response to Food-Cue Exposure: Examining the Cue-Reactivity and Counteractive-Control Models

Many studies have demonstrated that those high in weight-related concerns eat more after food-cue exposure, which is consistent with predictions of the cue-reactivity model. However, the counteractive-control model predicts that exposure to fattening foods activates dieting-related goals and behavior in weight-concerned individuals. Although these models seem incongruous, the authors hypothesized that the salience of the cue could represent a critical factor in determining which model is activated. The authors predicted that attending to salient food cues would result in increased intake (cue reactivity) in individuals with high weight-related concerns, whereas incidental food-cue exposure would result in decreased intake (counteractive control), relative to control exposure. The authors employed a 3 (attended vs. incidental vs. control cue) x 2 (low vs. high weight-related concerns) design. As expected, participants with high weight-related concerns who attended to a food cue ate more than did both those with high weight-related concerns in the control condition and those with low weight-related concerns in the attended-cue condition; however, intake of individuals with high weight-related concerns who were exposed to the incidental cue did not differ from that of those in the control condition. The manner of food-cue presentation may be a critical factor in determining eating behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2009 APA, all rights reserved).

The role of food-cue exposure and negative affect in the experience of thought-shape fusion.

Thought-shape fusion (TSF) is a cognitive distortion that can be induced by imagining eating high-caloric foods, and involves increased guilt, feelings of fatness, and perceptions of weight gain and moral wrong-doing. Two studies were conducted to further elucidate this phenomenon. Study 1 investigated whether merely being exposed to fattening foods (without being asked to think about these foods) could induce a TSF-like experience. Study 2 investigated the relationship between negative affect and TSF-like experiences. The results suggested that TSF is specific to thinking about eating fattening foods, as mere exposure to high-caloric foods did not increase state TSF scores in healthy females relative to a neutral control condition. Furthermore, susceptibility to TSF is associated with negative affect. Healthy females with low levels of negative affect appear to be protected against TSF, medium negative affect is associated with susceptibility to TSF inductions, while those with high levels of negative affect appear to be particularly vulnerable to TSF-like experiences (even after imagining a neutral situation). Overall, the studies suggest that negative affect is associated with a TSF-like experience, and that TSF is a phenomenon that is experienced (to at least some extent) by females in the general population.

Assessment of thought–shape fusion: Initial validation of a short version of the trait thought–shape fusion scale

OBJECTIVE Thought-shape fusion (TSF) is a cognitive distortion that has been linked to eating pathology. Two studies were conducted to further explore this phenomenon and to establish the psychometric properties of a French short version of the TSF scale. METHOD In Study 1, students (n = 284) completed questionnaires assessing TSF and related psychopathology. In Study 2, the responses of women with eating disorders (n = 22) and women with no history of an eating disorder (n = 23) were compared. RESULTS The French short version of the TSF scale has a unifactorial structure, with convergent validity with measures of eating pathology, and good internal consistency. Depression, eating pathology, body dissatisfaction, and thought-action fusion emerged as predictors of TSF. Individuals with eating disorders have higher TSF, and more clinically relevant food-related thoughts than do women with no history of an eating disorder. DISCUSSION This research suggests that the shortened TSF scale can suitably measure this construct, and provides support for the notion that TSF is associated with eating pathology.

Acute versus repeated chocolate exposure: effects on intake and cravings in restrained and unrestrained eaters.

The cue-reactivity model, which is based on conditioning processes, posits that repeated food exposure (in the absence of consumption) should decrease cue reactivity. To examine whether repeated chocolate exposure attenuates cravings and intake, relative to those exposed to an acute cue, a 2 (repeated vs acute cue) × 2 (restrained vs unrestrained eaters) design was employed. Fifty female participants were recruited. Repeated exposure reduced cravings in unrestrained eaters (relative to acute exposure), but increased cravings in restrained eaters. An interaction between restraint and exposure emerged on intake, such that restrained eaters ate less after acute exposure than did unrestrained eaters.

Male Youth With Eating Disorders: Clinical and Medical Characteristics of a Sample of Inpatients

A retrospective chart review was conducted to elucidate the clinical and medical characteristics of male youth admitted to a tertiary inpatient treatment center for eating disorders. A total of 23 male youth were identified who had received treatment between January 2003 and February 2014, and for whom charts were available. The majority of the sample (n = 19; 82.6%) received a diagnosis of anorexia nervosa, and the data suggest that these male youth were significantly medically compromised. The patterns in this data will be discussed in the context of previous published research on male youth with eating disorders.

Pre-exposure to high- versus low-caloric foods: Effects on children's subsequent fruit intake

The effects of pre-exposure to high- versus low-caloric foods on fruit intake were investigated. A total of 56 children participated in this study, and were randomly assigned to an exposure condition: high-caloric food, low-caloric food, or control. Children who were pre-exposed to a high-caloric food ate more fruit than did those pre-exposed to a low-caloric food. These findings suggest that pre-exposure to high-caloric foods stimulates subsequent intake, including intake of foods that were not previously exposed, while pre-exposure to low-caloric foods does not appear to arouse appetite.

Susceptibility to cognitive distortions: the role of eating pathology

BackgroundThought-Shape Fusion (TSF) and Thought-Action Fusion (TAF) are cognitive distortions that are associated with eating and obsessional pathology respectively. Both involve the underlying belief that mere thoughts and mental images can lead to negative outcomes. TSF involves the belief that food-related thoughts lead to weight gain, body dissatisfaction, and perceptions of moral wrong-doing. TAF is more general, and involves the belief that merely thinking about a negative event (e.g., a loved one getting into a car accident) can make this event more likely to happen, and leads to perceptions of moral wrong-doing. However, the shared susceptibility across related cognitive distortions—TAF and TSF—has not yet been studied.MethodThe effects of TSF and TAF inductions in women with an eating disorder (n = 21) and a group of healthy control women with no history of an eating disorder (n = 23) were measured. A repeated-measures design was employed, with all participants exposed to a TSF, TAF and neutral induction during three separate experimental sessions. Participants’ cognitive and behavioral responses were assessed.ResultsIndividuals with eating disorders were more susceptible to TSF and TAF than were control participants, demonstrating more neutralization behavior after TSF and TAF inductions (i.e., actions to try to reduce the negative effects of the induction), and reporting higher levels of trait TAF and TSF than did controls.ConclusionsIndividuals with eating disorders are particularly susceptible to both TAF and TSF. Clinical implications of these findings will be discussed.