Colton Emily, Mahlberg Justin, Chong Trevor T J, Verdejo-Garcia Antonio
School of Psychological Sciences & Turner Institute of Brain & Mental Health, Monash University, Australia.
Appetite. 2025 Feb 1;206:107834. doi: 10.1016/j.appet.2024.107834. Epub 2024 Dec 25.
Binge eating (BE) is associated with psychological distress, functional impairment, and elevated risk of eating disorder diagnoses, and BE prevalence is increasing. Motivational and self-regulatory processes such as delay discounting may be important influences on BE; however, evidence is inconclusive, and lacks explanation of mechanisms. This study investigated how food choice motives mediate the pathway from delay discounting (DD) to BE symptomatology. Adult participants (N = 391, 80% female, mean age 38.93) completed the Monetary Choice Questionnaire (DD), Food Choice Questionnaire (food choice motives), and Binge Eating Scale online. We used structural equation modelling (SEM) to analyse hypothesised partially-mediated pathways from DD to BE via Health, Mood, and Sensory Appeal food choice motives, incorporating participant age, sex, BMI, and Weight Control motives. The best fitting SEM indicated steeper DD was associated with greater BE, but this effect was fully mediated by lesser endorsement of Health motives. Greater endorsement of Mood and Weight Control motives, along with female sex and higher BMI, also accompanied greater BE symptomatology. Counter to hypotheses, Mood and Sensory Appeal did not mediate the relationship between DD and BE. The novel finding that Health motives mediated the effect of DD on BE suggests steeper discounting may hinder the longer-term perspective needed to value the health attributes of food, and thus promote food intake for immediate reinforcement. The significant effects of Weight Control and Mood motives independent of DD suggest support for overvaluation of weight and shape and negative reinforcement mechanisms in the etiology of BE. Our study highlights the influence of food choice motives and DD in BE, and supports the integration of individualised motivational and neurocognitive interventions in eating disorder treatment.
暴饮暴食（BE）与心理困扰、功能损害以及饮食失调诊断风险升高相关，且暴饮暴食的患病率正在上升。诸如延迟折扣等动机和自我调节过程可能对暴饮暴食有重要影响；然而，证据尚无定论，且缺乏对机制的解释。本研究调查了食物选择动机如何介导从延迟折扣（DD）到暴饮暴食症状的途径。成年参与者（N = 391，80%为女性，平均年龄38.93岁）在线完成了货币选择问卷（DD）、食物选择问卷（食物选择动机）和暴饮暴食量表。我们使用结构方程模型（SEM）来分析从DD通过健康、情绪和感官吸引力食物选择动机到BE的假设部分中介途径，纳入了参与者的年龄、性别、BMI和体重控制动机。拟合度最佳的SEM表明，更陡峭的DD与更严重的BE相关，但这种效应完全由对健康动机的较少认可所介导。对情绪和体重控制动机的更高认可，以及女性性别和更高的BMI，也伴随着更严重的BE症状。与假设相反，情绪和感官吸引力并未介导DD与BE之间的关系。健康动机介导了DD对BE的影响这一新颖发现表明，更陡峭的折扣可能会阻碍重视食物健康属性所需的长期视角，从而促进为了即时强化而摄入食物。体重控制和情绪动机独立于DD的显著影响表明，在暴饮暴食的病因中，对体重和体型的过度重视以及负强化机制得到了支持。我们的研究强调了食物选择动机和DD对暴饮暴食的影响，并支持在饮食失调治疗中整合个性化的动机和神经认知干预。
