AUTHOR=Dietrich Anja , Federbusch Martin , Grellmann Claudia , Villringer Arno , Horstmann Annette 

TITLE=Body weight status, eating behavior, sensitivity to reward/punishment, and gender: relationships and interdependencies

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychology

VOLUME=5

YEAR=2014

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.01073

DOI=10.3389/fpsyg.2014.01073

ISSN=1664-1078

ABSTRACT=<p>Behavioral and personality characteristics are factors that may jointly regulate body weight. This study explored the relationship between body mass index (BMI) and self-reported behavioral and personality measures. These measures included eating behavior (based on the <italic>Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire</italic>; <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B106">Stunkard and Messick, 1985</xref>), sensitivity to reward and punishment (based on the <italic>Behavioral Inhibition System/Behavioral Activation System</italic> (<italic>BIS/BAS) scales</italic>) (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B18">Carver and White, 1994</xref>) and self-reported impulsivity (based on the <italic>Barratt Impulsiveness Scale-11</italic>; <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B91">Patton et al., 1995</xref>). We found an inverted U-shaped relationship between restrained eating and BMI. This relationship was moderated by the level of disinhibited eating. Independent of eating behavior, <italic>BIS</italic> and <italic>BAS</italic> responsiveness were associated with BMI in a gender-specific manner with negative relationships for men and positive relationships for women. Together, eating behavior and <italic>BIS/BAS</italic> responsiveness accounted for a substantial proportion of BMI variance (men: ∼25%, women: ∼32%). A direct relationship between self-reported impulsivity and BMI was not observed. In summary, our results demonstrate a system of linear and non-linear relationships between the investigated factors and BMI. Moreover, body weight status was not only associated with eating behavior (<italic>cognitive restraint</italic> and <italic>disinhibition</italic>), but also with personality factors not inherently related to an eating context (<italic>BIS/BAS</italic>). Importantly, these relationships differ between men and women.</p>