Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-5nwft Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-02T11:52:00.760Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Worry as an Inhibitor of Dietary Restraint

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 June 2009

Yvette S. Scattolon  and
Richard M. Nicki
Yvette S. Scattolon
Affiliation:
University of New Brunswick, Canada
Richard M. Nicki
Affiliation:
University of New Brunswick, Canada
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Previous researchers have identified disinhibiting agents of restrained eating such as the ingestion of preloads, alcohol consumption, and negative affect. This study investigated worry as a purely cognitive inhibitor of dietary restraint. Seventy-five subjects who were screened as being high worriers and high restrainers were randomly assigned to three groups: eating-related worry; social-evaluative/school-related worry; non-worry. Subjects were induced to either worry or to think pleasant thoughts, and then take part in a bogus taste-test. Food consumption in worry-prone, chronic dieters was found to be triggered more by social-evaluative/school-related worries than by eating-related worries, or pleasant thoughts. Chronic dieting and worrying were found to be substantially related to measures of bulimic tendencies and trait anxiety, respectively. These findings may be germane to behaviour change programmes pertaining to bulimia.

Type
Main Section
Information
Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy , Volume 23 , Issue 1 , January 1995 , pp. 25 - 33
Copyright
Copyright © British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies 1995

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Barlow, D. H. (1988). Anxiety and its Disorders. New York: Guilford.Google Scholar
Baucom, D. H. and Aiken, P. A. (1981). Effect of depressed mood on eating among obese and nonobese dieting persons. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 41, 577–585.Google Scholar
Borkovec, T. D., Robinson, E., Pruzinsky, T. and DePree, J. A. (1983). Preliminary exploration of worry: some characteristics and processes. Behaviour Research and Therapy 21, 9–16.Google Scholar
Borkovec, T. D., Shadick, R. N. and Hopkins, M. (1991). The nature of normal and pathological worry. In Rapee, R. and Barlow, D. H. (Eds). Generalized Anxiety Disorder and Mixed Anxiety Depression. New York: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Charnock, D. J. (1989). A comment on the role of dietary restraint in the development of bulimia nervosa. British Journal of Clinical Psychology 28, 329–340.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cohen, J. and Cohen, P. (1983). Applied Multiple Regression Correlation Analysis for the Behavioral Sciences. Hillsdale: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Fairburn, C. G. and Garner, D. M. (1986). The diagnosis of bulimia-nervosa. International Journal of Eating Disorders 5, 403–419.Google Scholar
Heatherton, T. F. and Baumeister, R. G. (1991). Binge eating as escape from self-awareness. Psychological Bulletin 110, 86–108.Google Scholar
Herman, C. P. and Mack, D. (1975). Restrained and unrestrained eating. Journal of Personality 43, 647–660.Google Scholar
Herman, C. P. and Polivy, J. (1980). Restrained eating. In Stunkard, A. J. (Ed). Obesity. Toronto: W. B. Saunders Company.Google Scholar
Herman, C. P. and Polivy, J. (1984). A boundary model for the regulation of eating. In Stunkard, A. J. and Stellar, E. (Eds). Eating and its Disorders. New York: Raven Press.Google Scholar
Herman, C. P., Polivy, J., Pliner, P., Threlkeld, J. and Munic, D. (1978). Distractibility in dieters and nondieters: an alternative view of “externality”. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 36, 536–548.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hibscher, J. A. and Herman, C. P. (1977). Obesity, dieting, and the expression of “obese” characteristics. Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology 91, 374–380.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jansen, A., Merckelbach, H., Oosterlaan, J., Tuiten, A and van den Hout, M. (1988). Cognitions and self-talk during food intake of restrained and unrestrained eaters. Behaviour Research and Therapy 26, 393–398.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lowe, M. R. (1993). The effects of dieting on eating behavior: a three-factor model. Psychological Bulletin 114, 100–121.Google Scholar
Mathews, A. (1990). Why worry? The cognitive function of anxiety. Behaviour Research and Therapy 28, 455–468.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Metropolitan Life Insurance Company (1983). Statistical Bulletin 64, 2–9.Google Scholar
Meyer, T. J., Miller, M. L., Metzger, R. L. and Borkovec, T. D. (1990). Development and validation of the Penn State Worry Questionnaire. Behaviour Research and Therapy 28, 487–495.Google Scholar
Pecsok, E. H. and Fremouw, W. J. (1988). Controlling laboratory bingeing among restrained eaters through self-monitoring and cognitive restructuring procedures. Addictive Behaviours 13, 37–44.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Polivy, J. (1976). Perception of calories and regulation of intake in restrained and unrestrained subjects. Addictive Behaviours 1, 237–243.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Polivy, J. and Herman, C. P. (1976). Effects of alcohol on eating behaviour: influence of mood and perceived intoxication. Journal of Abnormal Psychology 85, 601–606.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Polivy, J. and Herman, C. P. (1985). Dieting and bingeing: a causal analysis. American Psychologist 40, 193–201.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ruderman, A. J. (1986). Dietary restraint: a theoretical and empirical review. Psychological Bulletin 99, 247–262.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schlesier-Stropp, B. (1984). Bulimia: a review of the literature. Psychological Bulletin 95, 247–257.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schotte, D. E., Cools, J. and McNally, R. J. (1990). Film-induced negative affect triggers overeating in restrained eaters. Journal of Abnormal Psychology 99, 317–320.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shadick, R. N., Roemer, L., Hopkins, M. B. and Borkevec, T. D. (1991). The nature of worrisome thoughts.Paper presented at the 25th Annual Convention of the Association for the Advancement of Behaviour Therapy,New York,November.Google Scholar
Smith, M. C. and Thelen, M. H. (1984). Development and validation of a test for bulimia. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 52, 863–872.Google Scholar
Spencer, J. A. and Fremouw, W. J. (1979). Binge eating as a function of restraint and weight classification. Journal of Abnormal Psychology 88, 262–267.Google Scholar
Spielberger, C. D., Gorsuch, R. and Lushene, R. (1970). Manual for the State – Trait Anxiety Inventory. Palo Alto, CA: Consulting Psychologists Press.Google Scholar
Stavosky, J. M. and Borkovec, T. D. (1987). The phenomenon of worry: theory research, treatment and its implications for women. Women and Therapy 6, 77–95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tabachnick, B. G. and Fidell, L. S. (1989). Using Multivariate Statistics (2nd edition). New York: Harper Collins.Google Scholar
Westenhoefer, J. (1991). Dietary restraint and disinhibition: is restraint a homogeneous construct? Appetite 16, 45–55.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Woody, E. Z., Costanzo, P. R., Leifer, H. and Conger, J. (1981). The effects of taste and caloric perceptions on the eating of restrained and unrestrained subjects. Cognitive Research and Therapy 5, 381–390.Google Scholar
Submit a response

Comments

No Comments have been published for this article.