Emotion-driven impulsiveness and snack food consumption of European adolescents: Results from the I.Family study

J.M.J. Coumans, U.N. Danner, T. Intemann, A. de Decker, C. Hadjigeorgiou, M. Hunsberger, L.A. Moreno, P. Russo, S. Stomfai, T. Veidebaum, R.A.H. Adan, A. Hebestreit*, I.Family Consortium

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

    22 Citations (Web of Science)

    Abstract

    We aimed to investigate the association between emotion-driven impulsiveness and snack food consumption in 1039 European adolescents aged 12-18 years. During the cross-sectional examination in 2013/2014, complete information was collected on: emotion-driven impulsiveness (using the negative urgency subscale from the Urgency, Premeditation, Perseverance, Sensation seeking, and Positive urgency (UPPS-P) Impulsive Behaviour Scale) and snacking behaviour operationalised as 1) consumption frequency of daily snacks, 2) consumption frequency of energy-dense snacks (both measured using Food Frequency Questionnaire) and 3) usual energy intake of food consumed per snacking occasion in calories. The latter was measured using online self-administered 24-h dietary recalls and was estimated based on the National Cancer Institute (NCI) Method. Anthropometric variables were measured and BMI z-score (zBMI) calculated. Age, sex, highest education level of the family and country of residence were assessed using a questionnaire. Mixed-effect regression analyses were separately conducted for each snacking behaviour outcome with emotion-driven impulsiveness as the exposure. After controlling for zBMI, age, sex, country and socioeconomic status, emotion-driven impulsiveness was positively associated with daily consumption frequency of snacks (beta = 0.07, 95% Confidence Interval (CI) [0.02, 0.12]) and consumption frequency of energy-dense snacks (beta = 0.25, 95% CI [0.19, 0.311), but not with usual energy intake of food per snacking (beta = 2.52, 95% CI [-0.55, 5.59]). Adolescents with a stronger emotion-driven impulsiveness tendency reported a higher snacking frequency and specifically more energy-dense snacks, whereas the energy intake of snack food seemed less important. These findings have implications for obesity prevention and treatment as they indicate the importance of targeting emotion-driven impulsiveness as a strategy to avoid excessive snacking. (C) 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)152-159
    Number of pages8
    JournalAppetite
    Volume123
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 1 Apr 2018

    Keywords

    • Body mass index
    • CHILDREN
    • Children
    • DETERMINANTS
    • DIETARY-INTAKE
    • EATING BEHAVIOR
    • ENERGY-INTAKE
    • Energy-dense snacks
    • Europe
    • MOOD
    • NEGATIVE URGENCY
    • Negative urgency
    • OBESE
    • OBESITY
    • OVERWEIGHT
    • QUESTIONNAIRE
    • RASH ACTION
    • SELF-CONTROL
    • Snacking frequency

    Fingerprint

    Dive into the research topics of 'Emotion-driven impulsiveness and snack food consumption of European adolescents: Results from the I.Family study'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

    Cite this