Having less and wanting more: an investigation of socioeconomic status and reinforcement pathology

Abstract

Background In the United states obesity and socioeconomic status (SES), or one’s standing in society based on income, education, and/or occupation, are strongly associated. The mechanisms for this relationship may include having high levels of motivation to get food (reinforcing value of food; RRV) and low levels of inhibitory control (delay discounting; DD) which, when combined, is referred to as reinforcement pathology (RP). We sought to examine the relationships among multiple measures of household SES, RP, and age-adjusted body mass index (zBMI) among adolescents. Methods These data were collected as part of ongoing longitudinal study of risk factors for obesity in 244 adolescents. The adolescents and one parent/guardian had height and weight measured and completed surveys. The adolescents completed an adjusting amount DD task and a computer-based RRV task. Analyses consisted of correlations among measures of SES and RRV, DD, and BMI z-scores. In the case of significant associations, multiple regression models were created with theoretically informed covariates. Results Household income, parent/guardian education, parent/guardian occupation, and food insecurity status were all related to one another. Among the adolescents, a significant portion of the variance in RRV was accounted for by household income after controlling for covariates. For DD, it was parent/guardian education that was most associated after controlling for covariates. Conclusion When low income and low parent/guardian education occur together, there may be an increased risk of RP. Separately, food insecurity was predictive of higher parent/guardian BMI. Future research should continue to explore the effects of low income and parent/guardian education on RP among youth by examining them over time.

The Effect of Financial Scarcity on Reinforcer Pathology: A Dyadic Developmental Examination

“…The overall nancial situation of the home was associated with DD in this study. Our previous work in adolescents showed that parental education was positively related to adolescent DD (Crandall et al, 2021). Regardless of this, our manipulation of nancial gains and losses had no effect on DD in any group in this study, which was contrary to our hypotheses and the previous literature, which showed an increase in present-thinking following narrative priming of nancial shock in adults (Mellis et al, 2018).…”

“…Ratings were completed using a 100mm visual analogue scale. This method has been used in prior studies to examine current appetite sensations (Crandall and Temple, 2018;Crandall et al, 2021;Temple and Epstein, 2012).…”

The Effect of Financial Scarcity on Reinforcer Pathology: A Dyadic Developmental Examination

“…Based on these anticipated associations, we hypothesized that, within families, children would have significantly greater RP than their parents, while adolescents would not significantly differ. As shown previously among adults [ 25 ], we hypothesized that adults with food insecurity would be more sensitive to acute financial losses and respond with greater RP. Because adolescents are more likely to experience food insecurity directly, we hypothesized that the adolescents from food-insecure households would also be sensitive to acute financial losses and respond with greater RP, while children, who are more likely to be shielded from food insecurity by their parents, would show no difference in RP based on financial losses, regardless of food security status.…”

“…Food insecurity is associated with the RRV food in pregnant women [ 23 ], and food-insecure adults have a greater RRV food after financial losses compared with food-secure adults [ 24 ]. Likewise, household income is associated with a greater RRV food among adolescents [ 25 ]. This evidence suggests that household resources, and food insecurity specifically, may impact the reinforcing value of food among adults and adolescents, but more work is needed to assess the causal nature of these associations and their developmental impact.…”

Self-Reported Eating Speed Is Associated with Indicators of Obesity in Adults: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

“…The revealed obesity-related markers presented in the literature have been widely reported. Among the mentioned markers, a sedentary lifestyle [4], socioeconomic factors [5], genetics [6], microbiome [7], psychological well-being [2], endocrine regulation [3], family and education influence [8,9], dietary behaviours such as skipping breakfast [10], snacking [11] and meal regulations [12][13][14] are prominent. Despite confirmed associations between obesity and its markers, there is a constant search for (and analysis of) new dependencies to manage and slow the 21st-century epidemic.…”