Machteld A. Ouwens

Tendency toward overeating and restraint as predictors of food consumption

Restrained eaters have repeatedly been found to overeat following a preload, which phenomenon is called the disinhibition effect. Remarkably, the disinhibition effect is only found when the restraint scale (RS) is used, and never when other measures of restraint, like the three-factor eating questionnaire (TFEQ) or the Dutch eating behavior questionnaire (DEBQ) are applied. Recent research has shown that tendency toward overeating appears to be a better predictor of food consumption than dietary restraint. The present study examines the predictive value of preload, tendency toward overeating and dietary restraint. An experiment was carried out with 209 female participants with the aim to evaluate whether the results of the study [Int J Eating Disorders 28 (2000) 333] are robust. In addition to the RS, the TFEQ and DEBQ were used to measure restraint and tendency toward overeating. Again, no disinhibition effect occurred, confirming the results of the previous study. Restraint, as measured by the three questionnaires, was not related to food consumption. In contrast, tendency toward overeating was significantly related to food consumption. Restraint theorys contentions that dieting leads to overeating might be valid for only some dieters, namely those with a high tendency toward overeating.

Possible pathways between depression, emotional and external eating. A structural equation model.

Emotional and external eating appear to co-occur and both have been shown to correlate to neuroticism, especially depression. However, there is evidence suggesting that emotional and external eating are independent constructs. In this study we revisited the relation between depression, emotional, and external eating. Using structural equation modelling, we examined whether depression, emotional and external eating are directly related and also indirectly related through the intervening concepts alexithymia and impulsivity. Participants were 549 females concerned about their weight. They filled out instruments on emotional and external eating, depression, alexithymia, and impulse regulation. The relational structure between the model variables was explored for one half of the participants and this solution was checked using the other half. Our data showed a moderate relationship between emotional and external eating. Depression was positively and directly associated with emotional eating, but not with external eating. In addition, depression was indirectly related to emotional eating through both alexithymia and impulsivity. A significant relation was found between impulsivity and external eating. Results suggest potential mediating pathways between depression and emotional eating, while no relation appeared to exist between depression and external eating. Emotional and external eating would appear to be different constructs.

Counterregulation in female obese emotional eaters: Schachter, Goldman, and Gordon's (1968) test of psychosomatic theory revisited.

In a sample of 31 obese women, the moderating role of restrained, emotional, and external eating (as was measured by the DEBQ) on the relationship between food deprivation and food intake was studied by examining the prediction of grams of cookies eaten by the preload and degree of restrained, external, and emotional eating interactions. In addition, the main effects of each type of eating behaviour on food intake was studied, and also whether any of the effects were attenuated when variance associated with the other types of eating behaviour was partialled out. Emotional eating was found to moderate the relationship between food intake and food deprivation, and this effect became even more pronounced when the variance associated with external eating was removed. Instead of eating less after a preload, emotional eaters ate more, suggesting a counter regulatory eating pattern of female obese emotional eaters. Further, also the main effect of emotional eating on food intake was significant. Both results suggest support for psychosomatic theory.

Validation of the EDI-2 in one clinical and two nonclinical populations

Summary The present study establishes the validity of the Dutch translation of the EDI-2 by determining its factor structure, construct validity and its effectiveness for screening using a clinical and two nonclinical populations. An earlier study had shown that item transformation damaged the validity of the EDI-1 in a nonclinical population of female high-school students. Therefore, the issue of the use of transformed (0-3) versus untransformed (1-6) item responses was addressed first. The present study replicated the earlier finding for the EDI-2 in the same population and similar results were also found in another nonclinical population of female college students. Furthermore, untransformed responses were found to also work well in a clinical population of female patients suffering from eating disorders. Accordingly, further analyses were based on untransformed responses. The factorial integrity of the original 64-item EDI-1 was best supported in the clinical group and the nonclinical group of college...

Restraint Scale, its sub-scales concern for dieting and weight fluctuation

Abstract The Herman and Polivy Restraint Scale (RS) contains items which assess weight fluctuation (WF) and subjective concern for dieting (CD). A number of studies have determined relationships with the RS-sub-scales WF and CD, but these subscales are not factorially simple, and there is no agreement on their predictive power for weight suppression and overeating. In the present study RS sub-scales were constructed which are factorially unidimensional and their constructive and predictive validity was assessed. Two items were deleted from the original sub-scales, one item on splurging (from CD), and one item on weight history (from WF). RS-CD measures restrained eating, but RS-WF is not covered by other measures for eating behaviour or BMI. RS-WF had the greatest predictive power for ice cream consumption, but may have suppressed the preload × restraint interaction for the total RS. Use of the total RS should be discouraged.

Psychometric Properties of the Dutch Version of the Eating Disorder Inventory–3

The psychometric properties of the Dutch version of the Eating Disorder Inventory–3 (EDI-3) were tested in eating disordered patients (N = 514) using confirmatory factor analyses, variance decomposition, reliabilities, and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analyses. Factorial validity results supported the 12 subscales, but model fit was impaired by correlated item errors, misallocated items, and redundant subscales. At the composite level, the Bulimia subscale was identified as a largely specific source of information that did not contribute much to its overarching composite. Reliabilities for subscales and composites ranged from .6 to .9. ROC curve analysis indicated good to excellent discriminative ability of the EDI-3 identifying clinical subjects against a reference group. In conclusion, further revisions of the EDI-3 might target the item allocation and (over-)differentiation of subscales and composites to further clarify its structure. For the clinical practice, we advise the careful use of the EDI-3, although it might serve as a good screening tool.

The dual pathway model of overeating. Replication and extension with actual food consumption

van Strien et al. [van Strien, T., Engels, R. C. M. E., van Leeuwe, J., Snoek, H. M. (2005). The Stice model of overeating: tests in clinical and non-clinical samples. Appetite, 45, 205-213] extended the negative affect pathway of Stices dual pathway model of overeating Stice [Stice, E. (1994). Review of the evidence for a sociocultural model of bulimia nervosa and an exploration of the mechanisms of action. Clinical Psychology Review, 14(7), 633-661] successfully with the variables lack of interoceptive awareness and emotional eating. This study aimed to replicate these findings in a sample of female college students with food consumption as the measure for overeating. Structural equation modeling was used to test the original and the extended model and both models fitted. In the extended model, the relation between negative affect and consumption seemed to run only via lack of interoceptive awareness and emotional eating.

Absence of a disinhibition effect of alcohol on food consumption.

Alcohol is frequently mentioned as a disinhibitor of restrained eating behavior although only a small number of studies have investigated this disinhibition effect. The present study was conducted to fill this gap. A total of 116 female college students participated in a questionnaire-based assessment and a taste-test experiment. Before the taste test, half of the participants consumed a preset amount of alcohol-laced orange juice, the other half were given plain orange juice. The dependent variable was the amount of savory crackers eaten during the taste test. The Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire (DEBQ), the Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire (TFEQ), and the Restraint Scale (RS) were used to measure eating behavior dimensions, which formed the independent variables in various regression analyses. No disinhibition effect was found. On the contrary, participants scoring high on restraint (DEBQ, TFEQ) proved to consume even less food than those having lower scores. Participants that rated high on the scales measuring tendency toward overeating consumed more food than participants with low scores. These results support earlier contentions that the validity of the Restraint Theorys statement that dieting leads to overeating is questionable.

Mindfulness and eating behaviour styles in morbidly obese males and females.

BACKGROUND Morbid obesity is a highly prevalent condition that is associated with a high risk of various diseases and high health care costs. Understanding determinants of eating behaviours that are characteristic of many morbidly obese persons is important for the development of new interventions aimed at changing eating behaviour after bariatric surgery. Dispositional mindfulness seems promising as one such potential determinant. Therefore, the association between mindfulness and eating behaviour was examined in females and males with morbid obesity. METHODS Outpatients with morbid obesity who were candidates for bariatric surgery (N = 335; 78.8% female) completed the Dutch Eating Behaviour Questionnaire (DEBQ), the Freiburg Mindfulness Inventory (FMI) and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), in addition to the collection of relevant demographic and medical data. RESULTS Three separate multiple regression analyses with three eating behaviour styles (restrained, emotional, external) as dependent variables showed that mindfulness was positively associated with restrained eating behaviour (Beta = .28, p ≤ .001), and negatively associated with emotional (Beta = -.22, p ≤ .001) and external (Beta = -.32, p ≤ .001) eating behaviours, independent of sex, age, educational level, Body Mass Index and affective symptoms. CONCLUSION Dispositional mindfulness was associated with more restrained, and less emotional and external eating behaviour in morbidly obese outpatients, above and beyond affective symptoms. Future studies, establishing the causal direction of the associations, are needed.

Hunger, inhibitory control and distress-induced emotional eating ☆

Self-reported emotional eating has been found to significantly moderate distress-induced food intake, with low emotional eaters eating less after a stress task than after a control task and high emotional eaters eating more. The aim of the present study was to explore possible underlying mechanisms by assessing possible associations with (1) ability to experience the typical post-stress reduction of hunger and (2) inhibitory control. We studied these effects in 54 female students who were preselected on the basis of extremely high or low scores on an emotional eating questionnaire. Using a within subject design we measured the difference of actual food or snack intake after a control or a stress task (Trier Social Stress Test). As expected, the moderator effect of emotional eating on distress-induced food intake was found to be only present in females with a failure to report the typical reduction of hunger immediately after a stress task (an a-typical hunger stress response). Contrary to our expectations, this moderator effect of emotional eating was also found to be only present in females with high ability to stop motor impulses (high inhibitory control). These findings suggest that an a-typical hunger stress response but not poor inhibitory control may underlie the moderator effect of emotional eating on distress-induced food intake. However, inhibitory control may play a role whether or not there is a moderator effect of self-reported emotional eating on distress-induced food intake.