School of Medicine, University of Tasmania.
Health Psychol. 2018 Feb;37(2):153-159. doi: 10.1037/hea0000568. Epub 2017 Nov 20.
Social factors are among the most powerful and pervasive influences on eating behavior, snacking in particular. Previous research has shown that being in the presence of people who are eating significantly increases the likelihood of eating and affects the types as well as the amount of food consumed. Much less is known about the processes underlying social influence, but previous research has suggested social norms as mediators. In this study, we extended this perspective to everyday settings and examined whether the presence of other people eating leads to a change in perceived momentary norms, and whether this change predicts snack consumption in real life.
We applied ecological momentary assessment to study 61 individuals in the normal-obese weight range (M BMI = 24.97 kg/m²; SD = 4.07) over a 14-day monitoring period. We used a combination of event-based snacking reports and randomly timed assessments. The presence of others eating and momentary perceptions of injunctive norms (facets of perceived appropriateness and encouragement) were measured for both assessment types.
Mediated, multilevel logistic regression showed that social cues predict snacking (OR = 3.06), and that momentary perceptions of appropriateness (ab = 0.14) and encouragement (ab = 0.18) partially mediated these effects.
Perceptions of momentary norms mediated the effects of social influence on everyday snacking, which highlights the importance of the social environment for understanding eating behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record
社会因素是影响饮食行为的最强大和最普遍的因素之一，尤其是对零食的影响。先前的研究表明，身边有人在进食会显著增加进食的可能性，并影响所吃食物的类型和数量。但对于社会影响背后的过程知之甚少，但先前的研究表明社会规范是其中的中介因素。在这项研究中，我们将这一观点扩展到日常生活环境中，考察了他人进食的存在是否会导致对当前瞬间规范的感知发生变化，以及这种变化是否可以预测现实生活中的零食消费。
我们应用生态瞬时评估法（Ecological Momentary Assessment），在 14 天的监测期内对 61 名正常肥胖体重范围（M BMI = 24.97 kg/m²；SD = 4.07）的个体进行了研究。我们结合了基于事件的零食报告和随机时间评估。对于这两种评估类型，我们都测量了他人进食的存在以及对规范性规范（感知适当性和鼓励的方面）的瞬间感知。
中介、多层次逻辑回归表明，社会线索可以预测零食的摄入（OR = 3.06），而对瞬间规范的感知（ab = 0.14）和鼓励（ab = 0.18）部分解释了这些影响。
对瞬间规范的感知部分解释了社会影响对日常零食摄入的影响，这凸显了社会环境对于理解饮食行为的重要性。
