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Abstract
Highly palatable foods play a salient role in obesity and binge-eating, and if habitually eaten to deal with intrinsic and extrinsic factors unrelated to metabolic need, may compromise adaptive coping and interpersonal skills. This study used event sampling methodology (ESM) to examine whether individuals who report eating palatable foods primarily to cope, to enhance reward, to be social, or to conform, as measured by the Palatable Eating Motives Scale (PEMS), actually eat these foods primarily for the motive(s) they report on the PEMS. Secondly this study examined if the previously reported ability of the PEMS Coping motive to predict BMI would replicate if the real-time (ESM-reported) coping motive was used to predict BMI. A total of 1691 palatable eating events were collected from 169 college students over 4 days. Each event included the day, time, and types of tasty foods or drinks consumed followed by a survey that included an abbreviated version of the PEMS, hunger as an additional possible motive, and a question assessing general perceived stress during the eating event. Two-levels mixed modeling confirmed that ESM-reported motives correlated most strongly with their respective PEMS motives and that all were negatively associated with eating for hunger. While stress surrounding the eating event was strongly associated with the ESM-coping motive, its inclusion in the model as a predictor of this motive did not abolish the significant association between ESM and PEMS Coping scores. Regression models confirmed that scores on the ESM-coping motive predicted BMI. These findings provide ecological validity for the PEMS to identify true-to-life motives for consuming palatable foods. This further adds to the utility of the PEMS in individualizing, and hence improving, treatment strategies for obesity, binge-eating, dietary nutrition, coping, reward acquisition, and psychosocial skills.
Highlights
While food is the body’s main source of fuel, eating for many individuals has become much more than a means of meeting one’s metabolic need
The main goal of the present study was to test the validity of the Palatable Eating Motives Scale (PEMS) by using event sampling methodology (ESM) of the event-contingent type to test if scores on the PEMS motives translate to real-life motives for eating palatable foods
Prior to any calculations and analyses involving the ESMreported variables of coping, reward enhancement, social, conformity, hunger, and stress from the six questions of the food diary, the recorded foods and drinks for each eating event were checked to ensure that the eating event included palatable food and drink items as described in the PEMS and paper food diary instructions
Summary
While food is the body’s main source of fuel, eating for many individuals has become much more than a means of meeting one’s metabolic need. If eaten too frequently in place of meals, these foods can undermine one’s nutritional health as they lack several essential nutrients, the term “junk-food” (Zizza et al, 2001; Poulos and Pasch, 2015) While links between these types of foods and obesity, metabolic syndromes, and eating disorders have been investigated, less attention has been paid to possible psychological consequences when individuals adopt the habit of eating as a way of dealing with unpleasant feelings or situations, of not seeking other sources than food for reward or comfort, and of failing to assert themselves in situations where social or conformity pressures preclude a healthier lifestyle for them. Like all psychometric instruments, the utility of the PEMS to prevent or treat these conditions is predicated on the ability of the PEMS to reflect an individual’s real-time experience, in this case, consuming palatable foods primarily for the motive identified by the PEMS
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