EATMOTIVE

Description

The general aim of the interdisciplinary research project "EATMOTIVE" is to study the interplay of key facets of incentive motivation for "normal eating behavior" and food choice in important life domains and to provide an economic evaluation of public health programs. A particular strength of this project is its interdisciplinary perspective enabling the examination of the structure and dynamics of why people eat and why they eat what they eat from the perspective of health psychology, neuroscience, work and organizational psychology, sports science and economics.The project EATMOTIVE involves 6 work packages. Work package (WP) 1 explores how different incentive motive schemes affect eating behavior, while WP 2 attempts to determine their neural underpinning. WP 3 takes an innovative approach to relate motives and self-regulatory strength to various push and pull factors of eating behavior and food choice. WP 4 promises to yield important and new insights on which stressors act as primary push factors and barriers to normal eating behavior and how the negative side effects of work stressors can be tackled by means of a positive organizational health climate. WP 5 takes a comprehensive view on the implementation of community prevention programs considering individual and community variables. WP 6 provides for the first time an economic cost-benefit analysis of health insurance programs.The interdisciplinary project EATMOTIVE enables an innovative and refined perspective on the interplay of key facets of incentive motivation for "normal eating". By generating new insights on the regulation of normal eating and physical activity, a fundamental contribution is made to the prevention of major risk factors (e.g., overweight) and diseases (e.g., cardiovascular disease, type II diabetes) at the individual, workplace, and community level. Furthermore, the better understanding of the underlying push and pull factors of normal eating and physical activity has the great potential to be incorporated in health promotion programs (e.g., by health insurers, municipalities, work places) providing the inoculation against unhealthy push factors. The more specific tailoring of short- and midterm interventions to reduce health risk factors has the potential to reduce treatment costs in the long run.

Institutions
  • WG Renner (Psychologische Diagnostik & Gesundheitspsychologie)
Publications
    Niermann, Christina; Krapf, Fabian; Renner, Britta; Reiner, Miriam; Woll, Alexander (2014): Family health climate scale (FHC-scale) : development and validation International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity. 2014, 11(1), 30. eISSN 1479-5868. Available under: doi: 10.1186/1479-5868-11-30

Family health climate scale (FHC-scale) : development and validation

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Background:
The family environment is important for explaining individual health behaviour. While previous
research mostly focused on influences among family members and dyadic interactions (parent-child), the purpose
of this study was to develop a new measure, the Family Health Climate Scale (FHC-Scale), using a family-based
approach. The FHC is an attribute of the whole family and describes an aspect of the family environment that is
related to health and health behaviour. Specifically, a questionnaire measuring the FHC (a) for nutrition (FHC-NU)
and (b) for activity behaviour (FHC-PA) was developed and validated.


Methods:
In Study 1 (N = 787) the FHC scales were refined and validated. The sample was randomly divided into
two subsamples. With random sample I exploratory factor analyses were conducted and items were selected
according to their psychometric quality. In a second step, confirmatory factor analyses were conducted using the
random sample II. In Study 2 (N = 210 parental couples) the construct validity was tested by correlating the FHC
to self-determined motivation of healthy eating and physical activity as well as the families’ food environment and
joint physical activities.


Results:
Exploratory factor analyses with random sample I (Study 1) revealed a four (FHC-NU) and a three (FHC-PA)
factor model. These models were cross-validated with random sample II and demonstrated an acceptable fit
[FHC-PA: χ2 = 222.69, df = 74, p < .01; χ2/df = 3.01; CFI = .96; SRMR = .04; RMSEA = .07, CI .06/.08; FHC-NU: χ2 = 278.30, df = 113, p < .01, χ2/df = 2.46, CFI = .96; SRMR = .04; RMSEA = .06, CI .05/.07]. The perception of FHC correlated (p < .01) with the intrinsic motivation of healthy eating (r = .42) and physical activity (r = .56). Moreover, parental perceptions of FHC-NU correlated with household soft drink availability (r = −.31) and perceptions of FHC-PA with the frequency of joint physical activities with the child (r = .51). These patterns were found on the intraindividual and interindividual level.


Conclusions:
Two valid instruments measuring the FHC within families were developed. The use of different
informants’ ratings demonstrated that the FHC is a family level variable. The results confirm the high relevance of
the FHC for individuals’ health behaviour. The FHC and the measurement instruments are useful for examining
health-related aspects of the family environment.

Origin (projects)

    Sproesser, Gudrun; Schupp, Harald T.; Renner, Britta (2014): The bright side of stress induced eating : eating more when stressed but less when pleased Psychological Science. 2014, 25(1), pp. 58-65. ISSN 0956-7976. eISSN 1467-9280. Available under: doi: 10.1177/0956797613494849

The bright side of stress induced eating : eating more when stressed but less when pleased

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Previous research suggests that approximately 40% to 50% of the population increase food consumption under stressful conditions. The prevailing view is that eating in response to stress is a type of maladaptive self-regulation. Past research has concentrated mainly on the negative effects of social stress on eating. We propose that positive social experiences may also modulate eating behavior. In the present study, participants were assigned to social-exclusion, neutral, and social-inclusion conditions. In a subsequent bogus taste test, the amount of ice cream eaten and habitual stress-related eating were measured. After being socially excluded, people who habitually eat more in response to stress (stress hyperphagics) ate significantly more than people who habitually eat less in response to stress (stress hypophagics). Conversely, after being socially included, stress hyperphagics ate significantly less than stress hypophagics. The present findings provide the first evidence for complementary adjustments of food consumption across positive and negative situations. Implications of these findings for the relationship of stress and body weight are discussed.

Origin (projects)

  Häußler, Jan (2014): Essays in the Economics of Obesity and Diabetes Prevention

Essays in the Economics of Obesity and Diabetes Prevention

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dc.title:

Origin (projects)

  Renner, Britta; Sproesser, Gudrun; Klusmann-Weißkopf, Verena; Schupp, Harald T. (2012): Die Konstanzer Life-Studie Adipositas : Ursachen, Folgeerkrankungen, Therapie. 2012, 6(2), pp. 123-124

Die Konstanzer Life-Studie

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dc.title:

Origin (projects)

Funding sources
Name Finanzierungstyp Kategorie Project no.
F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG right of use right of use from license agreement 16977010
Further information
Period: 01.10.2010 – 31.07.2014