Van Malderen Eva, Kemps Eva, Claes Laurence, Verbeken Sandra, Goossens Lien
Department of Developmental, Personality and Social Psychology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.
School of Psychology, Flinders University, Adelaide, SA, Australia.
Front Psychol. 2021 Mar 31;12:630000. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.630000. eCollection 2021.
One in three adolescents frequently consume unhealthy snacks, which is associated with negative developmental outcomes. To date, it remains unclear how intrapersonal factors account for food choices in adolescents. Guided by the dual-pathway model, the current study aimed to: (1) examine the joint contribution of inhibitory control and attentional bias in predicting unhealthy food choices in adolescents, and (2) determine whether this mechanism is more pronounced in adolescents who experience loss of control over eating (LOC).
A community sample of 80 adolescents (65% female; 10-17 years old, = 13.28, = 1.94) was recruited. Based on a self-report questionnaire, 28.7% of this sample reported at least one episode of LOC over the past month. Food choice was assessed using a computerized food choice task. Both inhibitory control and attentional bias were measured with behavioral tasks (go/no-go and dot probe task, respectively). Binary logistic regressions were conducted to address the research questions.
Inhibitory control and attentional bias did not significantly interact to predict unhealthy food choices. However, there was a significant three-way interaction between inhibitory control, attentional bias and LOC. For adolescents without LOC, the combination of poor inhibitory control and low attentional bias was significantly associated with unhealthy food choice. Surprisingly, for adolescents with LOC, there was no significant association between unhealthy food choice and inhibitory control or attentional bias.
Dual-pathway processes do not seem to add to the explanation of food choice behavior for adolescents with LOC. For adolescents who do not experience LOC, those with poor inhibitory control combined with low attentional bias might be at particular risk for making unhealthy food choices.
三分之一的青少年经常食用不健康零食，这与不良的发育结果相关。迄今为止，尚不清楚个人因素如何影响青少年的食物选择。在双路径模型的指导下，本研究旨在：（1）检验抑制控制和注意偏向在预测青少年不健康食物选择中的联合作用，以及（2）确定这种机制在经历过饮食失控（LOC）的青少年中是否更为明显。
招募了80名青少年的社区样本（65%为女性；年龄10 - 17岁，平均年龄 = 13.28，标准差 = 1.94）。根据一份自我报告问卷，该样本中有28.7%的人报告在过去一个月中至少有一次饮食失控经历。使用计算机化食物选择任务评估食物选择。抑制控制和注意偏向均通过行为任务进行测量（分别为停止信号任务和点探测任务）。进行二元逻辑回归以解决研究问题。
抑制控制和注意偏向在预测不健康食物选择方面没有显著的交互作用。然而，抑制控制、注意偏向和饮食失控之间存在显著的三向交互作用。对于没有饮食失控的青少年，抑制控制能力差和注意偏向低的组合与不健康食物选择显著相关。令人惊讶的是，对于有饮食失控的青少年，不健康食物选择与抑制控制或注意偏向之间没有显著关联。
双路径过程似乎并不能增加对有饮食失控的青少年食物选择行为的解释。对于没有经历饮食失控的青少年，那些抑制控制能力差且注意偏向低的人可能在做出不健康食物选择方面面临特别的风险。
