Eating behaviour in obese women: A test of two hypotheses

Abstract

: This study examined the relationship between the psychosomatic and externality hypotheses as possible explanations for obesity. Twenty-nine women who were enrolled in Weight Watchers Federation programme volunteered as subjects. The women kept daily logs which recorded their eating behaviour, mood states, and the relative saliency of the consumed food over a period of four weeks. Neither major hypothesis was independently supported, but there was a significant tendency for the women to overeat non-nutritional food when aroused by a positive or negative or emotion and when the food was highly salient. Treatment programmes for obesity would be well advised to acknowledge the complex relationships among variables associated with overeating. A careful individualised appraisal of the parameters associated with overeating would seem to be a necessary prerequisite for an intervention.