No Differential Reward Responsivity and Drive, Punishment Sensitivity or Attention for Cues Signaling Reward or Punishment in Adolescents With Obesity.

Nienke C Jonker,Eva Van Malderen,Lien Goossens,Klaske A Glashouwer,Leentje Vervoort,Caroline Braet,Peter J De Jong

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02363

Nienke C Jonker, Eva Van Malderen + Show 5 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02363

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Abstract

Although it has been proposed that obese and healthy weight individuals might differ in their reward and punishment sensitivity, the literature shows diverse and inconsistent findings. The current study was set out to examine the role of reward and punishment sensitivity in adolescent obesity by differentiating between reward responsivity and reward drive, and by complementing self-report measures with performance-based measures indexing attention for cues signaling reward and punishment as well as effort to approach reward and avoid punishment. Participants were adolescents aged 12–23, with obesity (n = 51, adjusted BMI [(actual BMI/Percentile 50 of BMI for age and gender) × 100) between 143 and 313%], and with a healthy weight (n = 51, adjusted BMI between 75 and 129%). Individuals with obesity did not significantly differ from adolescents with a healthy weight in reward responsivity, reward drive or attention to cues signaling reward. Further, no differences in self-reported punishment sensitivity or attention for cues signaling punishment were found between obese and healthy weight adolescents. The current study thus does not corroborate the theories that general reward and punishment sensitivity play a role in obesity.

Highlights

The prevalence of obesity has nearly tripled worldwide since 1975 and currently 23.3% of the adult European population is obese (World Health Organization [WHO], 2016, 2018)
We focused on individual differences in trait reward sensitivity, as this personality characteristic has been proposed to play an important role in eating behavior (e.g., De Decker et al, 2016), eating related disorders (e.g., Harrison et al, 2010; Matton et al, 2015), and obesity (e.g., Verbeken et al, 2012)
Adolescents with obesity had a tendency to report less responsivity to reward than adolescents with a healthy weight, which seems to be in line with the reward deficiency syndrome theory (RDS) theory that posits that obese individuals might overeat as the result of experiencing less feelings of reward

Summary

Introduction

The prevalence of obesity has nearly tripled worldwide since 1975 and currently 23.3% of the adult European population is obese (World Health Organization [WHO], 2016, 2018). 8.6% of European adolescents is obese (World Health Organization [WHO], 2016). Adolescence seems an important period to intervene on obesity, with multidisciplinary interventions, combining diet, physical activity and behavioral lifestyle interventions as the treatment of choice (Stegenga et al, 2014). These interventions are limited in their effectiveness, suffer from high drop-out rates, and relapse after weight loss is common (Wilson, 1996; Poston et al, 1999; Goossens et al, 2009; Al-Khudairy et al, 2017). We focused on individual differences in trait reward sensitivity, as this personality characteristic has been proposed to play an important role in eating behavior (e.g., De Decker et al, 2016), eating related disorders (e.g., Harrison et al, 2010; Matton et al, 2015), and obesity (e.g., Verbeken et al, 2012)

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