Social Representations of Responsibility in a Transcultural
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Personality and Body Fat as Predictors of Eating Styles in Young Adults Thesis By Milena Ferenčíková Submitted in Partial fulfillment Of the Requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Arts in Psychology State University of New York Empire State College 2018 Reader: Ronnie Mathers, Ph.D. Acknowledgements I would like to thank my family for their limitless support and belief in me. Especially I wish to thank my niece, for her bright mind to see things that I could not see. Thanks to all of those who were patiently listening to my long monologues about what overeating may and may not. Table of Contents Chapter I Introduction……………………………………………………………. 6 Chapter II Literature Review……………………………………………………… 10 2.1 Eating…………………………...…………………………………. 10 2.1.1 Overeating…....…………………………………....................... 14 2.1.1.1 Psychological Theories of Overeating............................... 16 2.1.1.1.1 Psychosomatic Theory........................................... 16 2.1.1.1.2 Externality Theory.................................................. 18 2.1.1.1.3 Restraint Theory..................................................... 20 2.1.1.2 Overeating Styles……………….................................... 21 2.1.1.2.1 Emotional Eating.................................................... 21 2.1.1.2.2 External Eating....................................................... 26 2.1.1.2.3 Restrained Eating................................................... 26 2.1.1.2.4 Measures of Overeating Styles............................... 27 2.1.1.2.4.1 The Dutch Eating Behavior 31 Questionnaire…………………………. 2.1.1.2.4.1.1 Emotional Eating…………. 32 2.1.1.2.4.1.2 External Eating……………. 33 2.1.1.2.4.1.3 Restrained Eating…………. 33 2.2 Health…………………………...…………………………………. 34 2.2.1 Body Fat…....………………………………….......................... 35 2.2.1.1 Measures of Body Fat........................................................ 35 2.2.1.1.1 The Body Mass Index............................................. 36 2.3 Personality….…………………...…………………………………. 38 2.3.1 Personality Traits……....…………………………………......... 39 2.3.1.1 Measures of Personality Traits........................................... 40 2.3.1.1.1 The Big Five Inventory.......................................... 45 2.3.1.1.1.1 Extraversion vs. Introversion…………. 46 2.3.1.1.1.2 Agreeableness vs. Antagonism………... 47 2.3.1.1.1.3 Conscientiousness vs. Lack of Direction 47 2.3.1.1.1.4 Neuroticism vs. Emotional Stability…... 48 2.3.1.1.1.5 Openness vs. Closedness to Experience. 48 2.4 Personality Traits, BMI and Overeating Styles……………………. 49 2.4.1 Personality Traits and Overeating Styles………….................... 49 2.4.2 Body Fat Differences on Emotional Eating…………………… 54 2.4.3 Body Fat Differences on External Eating……………………… 55 2.4.4 Body Fat Differences on Restrained Eating…………………… 56 2.5 Hypotheses………………………………………………………... 57 Chapter III Method.……………………………………………………………… 61 3.1 Introduction……………………………………………………… 61 3.2 Design……………………………………………………………. 61 3.3 Participants………………………………………………………. 61 3.4 Materials………………………………………………………..... 62 3.5 Procedure………………………………………………………… 65 3.6 Analysis………………………………………………………….. 65 Chapter IV Findings……………………………………………………………… 66 4.1 Introduction……………………………………………………… 66 4.2 Results of the Application of the Method………………………… 66 4.3 Descriptive Statistics of Main Variables …………………….…… 66 4.3.1 Descriptive Statistics of the Personality Dimension Extraversion vs. Introversion…………………………… 66 4.3.2 Descriptive Statistics of the Personality Dimension Agreeableness vs. Antagonism…………………………… 67 4.3.3 Descriptive Statistics of the Personality Dimension Conscientiousness vs. Lack of Direction…………………… 67 4.3.4 Descriptive Statistics of the Personality Dimension Neuroticism vs. Emotional Stability……………………… 68 4.3.5 Descriptive Statistics of the Personality Dimension Openness vs. Closedness to Experience…………………… 68 4.3.6 Descriptive Statistics of BMI……………………………….. 69 4.3.7 Descriptive Statistics of Restrained Eating………...……….. 69 4.3.8 Descriptive Statistics of Emotional Eating………...……….. 70 4.3.9 Descriptive Statistics of External Eating………...……….. 70 4.4 Normality Assessment of Main Variables ……………………..… 71 4.4.1 Normality Assessment of the Personality Dimension Extraversion vs. Introversion…………………………… 72 4.4.2 Normality Assessment of the Personality Dimension Agreeableness vs. Antagonism…………………………… 72 4.4.3 Normality Assessment of the Personality Dimension Conscientiousness vs. Lack of Direction…………………… 73 4.4.4 Normality Assessment of the Personality Dimension Neuroticism vs. Emotional Stability……………………… 73 4.4.5 Normality Assessment of the Personality Dimension Openness vs. Closedness to Experience…………………… 74 4.4.6 Normality Assessment of BMI……………………………… 74 4.4.7 Normality Assessment of Restrained Eating………...……… 75 4.4.8 Normality Assessment of Emotional Eating………...……… 75 4.4.9 Normality Assessment of External Eating………...……….. 76 4.5 Test of Hypotheses…………………………………….………….. 77 Chapter V Discussion……………………………………………………………. 84 5.1 Discussion of Descriptive Analysis……………………………... 84 5.2 Discussion of Test of Hypothesis……………………………….. 85 Chapter VI Conclusions…………………………………………………………... 91 6.1 Main Conclusions…………………………………………………. 91 6.2 Implications………………………………………………………. 92 6.3 Strengths and Limitations………………………………................ 94 6.4 Suggestions for Future Research………………………………... 94 References………………………………………………………………………….. 100 Appendix A…………………………………………………………………………. 121 Appendix B…………………………………………………………………………. 159 Appendix C…………………………………………………………………………. 160 PERSONALITY AND BODY FAT AS PREDICTORS 5 Abstract Onwuegbuzie and Wilson (2003) found that 80% of psychology undergraduate students report some level of statistics anxiety caused by self-perceived stress. Constant et al. (2018) found that one common way how young adults cope with experience of negative emotions is overeating. Rolls, Morris and Roe (2002) mentioned that there are overeating in response to external factors while Werthheim, Paxton & Blaney (2009) report that they overeat because of dieting. However, some researchers Heavan et al., (2001) or Elfhag and Morey (2008) mentioned that personality and body fat might play a role in these overeating styles. Therefore, are overeating eating styles influenced by personality traits and body fat? In the current study overeating was operationalized in terms of restrained, emotional and external eating styles and assessed via van Strien et al. 1986’s Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire. Moreover, personality was operationalized in terms in of the Big Five personality dimension and assessed by John and Srivastava’s (1999) Big Five Inventory. In addition, body fat was operationalized in terms of body mass index. This is a quantitative, non-experimental, cross-sectional study conducted with 216 students in a non-clinical study population at University of New York in Prague, Czech Republic. Regression analyses showed that Neuroticism and body fat significantly positively predicted emotional eating while higher scores on Neuroticism, Extraversion and higher weight were identified as significant predictors of higher scores on external eating. Moreover, none of personality traits nor body fat significantly predicted restrained eating. Practical implications, limitations of the study and suggestions for further research are outlined at the end of the study. PERSONALITY AND BODY FAT AS PREDICTORS 6 Introduction Being in a college is a challenging experience. For some, it’s a time of enjoyment and a chance to build long-life friendships for others it may cause a lot of stress. For instance, Onwuegbuzie and Wilson (2003) found that 80% of psychology undergraduate students report some level of statistics anxiety caused by self-perceived stress. One common way how young adults cope with experience of negative emotions is overeating. Bruch (1973) coined this specific overeating style as emotional eating. Recently, Constant et al. (2018) studied eating behaviors in 335 female university students with normal weight. Four to five respondents in ten reported that they overeat in response to negative emotions such as anxiety (51.3%), loneliness (45.1%) or sadness (44.8%) mostly during one to five days in the last 28 days. Laitinen, Ek and Sovio (2002) in epidemiological study with 2359 men and 2791 women found that 30 % of women and 25% of men report that they overeat when experiencing negative emotions – specifically stress. Previous research has linked emotional eating with various indicators of psychopathology such as depression, anxiety, negative self-concept, difficulties in interpersonal relationships, poor health outcomes and increased weight (Gibson, 2006; Wardle, 2006, van Strien, 1996 ). Besides internal factors, eating behaviors can be affected by the environment. So called“ obesogenic environment” refers to all environmental cues that promote overconsumption while encourage reduction of energy expenditure ( Hill, Wyatt, Reed & Peters, 2014). According to Hill et al. (2014) the environmental factors contributing to overconsumption are” wide variety of good-tasting, inexpensive, energy-dense foods and the serving of these foods in large portions” (pg. 853). Western society has replaced traditional food preparation and family dining for dining out , to save time. One popular way how young adults deal with this “ paradox of living in instant age” is going to fast PERSONALITY AND BODY FAT AS PREDICTORS 7 food restaurants. Having lunch in McDonald’s takes just few minutes and is cheap. Indeed, Dingman et al. (2014) report that 23% of