Addictive-like eating mediates the association between eating motivations and elevated body mass index.

Abstract

Obesity continues to be a major public health crisis (Wang, Beydoun, Liang, Caballero, & Kumanyika, 2008) and the potential role of an addictive-like process in excess food consumption is a topic of growing interest. Motivations for use have been identified as an important contributor to problematic use of addictive substances like alcohol (Cooper, 1994), and recent research has highlighted the importance of motivations to eat in obesity risk (Burgess, Turan, Lokken, Morse, & Boggiano, 2014). The purpose of this study is to examine if addictive-like eating behavior serves as a mediator between motivations to eat and elevated BMI. Participants (N 257) completed the Yale Food Addiction Scale (YFAS; Gearhardt, Corbin, & Brownell, 2009b) and the Palatable Eating Motives Scale (PEMS; Burgess et al., 2014), as well as provided personal information and self-report measures of height and weight. Regression analysis and bootstrapping revealed addictive-like eating symptoms as measured by the YFAS to be a significant complete mediator between Coping, Enhancement, and Social motivations for eating and BMI. Additionally, addictive-like eating behavior partially mediated the relationship between Conformity motivations for eating and BMI. Thus, elevated addictive-like eating symptoms appear to play a significant role in the association between eating motivations and elevated BMI. This suggests the importance of identifying individuals who exhibit addictive-like eating behavior in the treatment of obesity, especially in the application of interventions that focus on addressing motivations to eat for reasons other than homeostatic need.