Towards an Explanation of Overeating Patterns Among Normal Weight College Women: Development and Validation of a Structural Equation Model
Abstract
Although research describing relationships between
psychosocial factors and various eating patterns is
growing, a model which explains the mechanisms through
which these factors may operate is lacking. A model to
explain overeating patterns among normal weight college
females was developed and tested. The model contained the
following variables: global adjustment, eating and weight
cognitions, emotional eating, and self-efficacy.
Three hundred ninety-one participants completed the
following self-report indices: the Questionnaire on
Eating and Weight Patterns-Revised, the Student
Adaptation College Questionnaire, the Weight Efficacy
Life-Style Questionnaire, the Center for Epidemiological
Studies on Depression, the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory,
the State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory, the Emotional
Eating Scale, the COPE, the Dutch Eating Behaviors
Questionnaire - Restraint Scale, and a self-reported
frequency of current eating patterns. Forty participants
were excluded based on responses suggestive of obesity
(BMI>27.3), severe dietary restraint, or bulimia nervosa,
resulting in a final sample of 351. Correlational matrices,
factor analysis and structural equation modeling with
LISREL 8.B were progressively used to develop the best
measurement model and assess the goodness of fit of the
proposed structural model. The model provided an excellent
fit to the data (GFI=.95; AGFI = .92; RMSEA = .048) and
explained as large amount of the observed variance in
overeating patterns among normal weight college females
(R2 = .78). An alternative model, which included dietary
restraint as a predictor variable was also tested and
compared to the proposed structural model. On all indices
of model fit and model parsimony, the proposed model
without dietary restraint appeared superior. Moreover,
dietary restraint was not a significant direct contributor
to the explanation of overeating patterns among normal
weight college females. In the final structural model,
all variables had a significant direct effect on eating
patterns (p < .01). Further examination revealed a large
total effect of adjustment as well as a strong direct
influence of emotional eating on overeating patterns
(direct effect =.52, p <.001). Because emotional eating
captures the extent to which negative emotions produce an
urge to eat, treatment and prevention programs should
specifically target acquisition and practice of alternative
coping strategies for dealing with negative emotions.
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- Doctoral Dissertations [14971]