Food cravings have been associated with problematic eating behaviors, such as emotional eating. Late adolescence is an important developmental period to examine this association, as late adolescents have greater independence in food choices as well as potentially higher demands during a transitional period of their lives. Mechanisms underlying the association between food cravings and problematic eating remain unclear. This study examined whether experiential avoidance (EA) may be one possible mechanism mediating the association between higher levels of food cravings and problematic eating behaviors. Late adolescents (n = 174) completed measures assessing EA, food cravings, and three problematic eating behaviors: emotional eating, cognitive restraint, and uncontrolled eating. Height and weight were measured objectively to calculate body mass index (BMI). Food cravings were positively associated with emotional eating and mediated by EA. EA also significantly mediated the association between greater cognitive restraint and greater food cravings. No significant mediation was detected for food cravings and uncontrolled eating. Future research may consider EA as a treatment target in intervention strategies for late adolescents seeking to decrease emotional or restrained eating behaviors.
Sleep is an essential factor for health and wellbeing in people across the age spectrum; yet many adolescents do not meet the recommended 8-10 h of nightly sleep. Unfortunately, habitually insufficient sleep, along with the metabolic changes of puberty, puts adolescents at increased risk for a host of adverse health outcomes such as obesity and type 2 diabetes (T2D). Furthermore, individuals from historically minoritized racial and ethnic groups (e.g. Hispanic/Latinx, African American/Black) are more likely to experience shorter sleep duration compared to adolescents of White/European origin, placing them at even greater risk for disparities in T2D risk.
Abstract Objective Loss‐of‐control and overeating are common in adolescents with high body mass index (BMI). Mindfulness may affect negative affect, and both may relate to loss‐of‐control and overeating. Yet, there is limited understanding of these associations in adolescents' daily lives. Methods Forty‐five adolescents (77% female; M age = 14.4 years, SD age = 1.7 years) with high weight (92% with BMI [kg/m 2 ] ≥85th percentile for age/sex) provided daily, repeated measurements of mindfulness, negative affect, loss‐of‐control, and overeating for ~7 days ( M = 5.6 days; range = 1–13). Multilevel mixed modeling was conducted to test within‐person (intraindividual) and between‐person (interindividual) associations for the same‐day (concurrent) and next‐day (time‐ordered/prospective). Results There were within‐person and between‐person associations of higher mindfulness with lower negative affect on the same‐day and next‐day. Greater between‐person mindfulness related to lower odds of adolescents' loss‐of‐control occurrence (same‐day) and conversely, more perceived control over eating (same‐day and next‐day). Greater within‐person mindfulness related to less odds of next‐day overeating. Discussion Dynamic relations exist among mindfulness, negative affect, and eating in adolescents at‐risk for excess weight gain. Mindfulness may be an important element to consider in loss‐of‐control and overeating. Future work using momentary‐data within an experimental design would help disentangle the intraindividual effects of increasing mindfulness/decreasing negative affect on disordered eating. Public Significance Loss‐of‐control and overeating are common in teenagers with high weight. Greater mindfulness—present‐moment, non‐judgmental attention—and less negative emotions may relate to healthier eating, but we do not know how these processes play out in teenagers' daily lives. Addressing this knowledge gap, the current findings showed that greater daily mindfulness, but not negative affect, related to less loss‐of‐control/overeating, suggesting the importance of mindfulness for eating patterns in teenagers' daily lives.
Although literature is mixed, some research suggests that food insecurity likely predicts obesity beginning in childhood. Child feeding practices may be one possible mechanism for this association. Parents of children ages 7–17 (n = 790) completed the USDA Core Food Security Module and the Child Feeding Questionnaire. Child BMI percentile was calculated using parent-reported child height and weight. Restrictive and controlling feeding practices each mediated the association between food insecurity and child BMI percentile, controlling for familial income and child age. Findings from this preliminary study suggest that feeding practices may be one mechanism through which food insecurity is related to obesity.
This study evaluated the psychometric properties of the Youth Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire (YEDE-Q) and its utility for detecting loss of control (LOC) eating (i.e., eating episodes, regardless of size, involving a perceived inability to control what or how much one is eating) among school-age children with overweight or obesity. Identifying eating pathology, particularly LOC eating, in this population may facilitate treatment that improves weight outcomes and reduces eating disorder risk. Children with overweight or obesity (N = 241; 7-11 years) completed the YEDE-Q and abbreviated Child EDE (ChEDE) to assess LOC eating, prior to entering a weight management treatment trial. Confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) were conducted on children's YEDE-Q responses and compared to the standard adult EDE-Q factor structure and newer, alternate factor structures. CFA supported a three-factor structure, which distinguished youth with versus without LOC. The YEDE-Q showed low accuracy for detecting LOC eating as measured by the ChEDE, which served as the gold-standard benchmark (AUC = 0.69). Among children who endorsed LOC eating, more episodes per month were reported on the YEDE-Q than ChEDE (p < .001). The YEDE-Q may not have utility as a screener for identifying true cases of LOC eating among school-age children with overweight or obesity. Further evaluation of the YEDE-Q and the alternate three-factor structure is warranted.
