Measuring the meanings of eating in minority youth

Abstract

The aim of this study is to present the development of the Meanings of Eating Index (MEI) in a diverse sample of children. Exploratory factor analysis was performed on MEI items. Factors with eigenvalues above 1.0 were retained. Items that loaded on multiple factors or with item-total correlations below 0.50 were discarded. A 24-item, 5-factor scale comprised the final MEI. Personal Negative Emotions and Disturbed Eating were positively associated with frequency of high calorie snack food intake (r=0.21, p<0.05; r=0.33, p<0.01), Personal Well Being was positively associated with eating vegetables more frequently (r=0.20; p<0.05). Eating on Behalf of Others was negatively associated with frequency of vegetable intake (r=-.20; p<0.05). Pleasure Eating was not associated with dietary intake. The MEI shows promise as a tool for understanding the affective determinants of dietary intake in minority youth.

Can eating pleasure be a lever for healthy eating? A systematic scoping review of eating pleasure and its links with dietary behaviors and health

“…Tools used in these studies to measure eating pleasure are presented in Table 5 . Eating pleasure was measured using a variety of tools, namely interviews (n = 2) [ 89 , 137 ], pairing and categorization tasks (n = 1) [ 26 ], single items (n = 11) [ 28 , 29 , 76 , 109 , 111 , 140 , 141 , 147 , 148 , 152 , 160 ], multi-item questionnaires developed by authors for the purpose of the study (n = 8) [ 21 , 74 , 112 , 136 , 145 , 148 , 150 , 156 ], adapted versions of existing multi-item questionnaires (n = 7) [ 13 , 33 – 35 , 75 , 157 , 158 ] or existing multi-item questionnaires (n = 13) [ 21 , 25 , 27 , 30 , 36 , 74 , 84 , 86 , 88 , 125 , 126 , 146 , 151 ]. In total, 37 different tools were used to measure eating pleasure: 1 interview process, 2 pairing and categorization tasks, 15 single items and 19 questionnaires.…”

“…In total, 37 different tools were used to measure eating pleasure: 1 interview process, 2 pairing and categorization tasks, 15 single items and 19 questionnaires. Questionnaires used to measure eating pleasure were (1) the Pleasures Questionnaire (Appleton & McGowan, 2006) [ 156 ], (2) the pleasure subscale of the Health and Taste Attitude Scale (Roininen et al, 1999) [ 25 , 84 , 86 , 88 ], (3) an international survey on the causes and treatment of obesity (Bray et al, 1992) [ 35 ], (4) the Epicurean Eating Pleasure Questionnaire (Cornil & Chandon, 2016) [ 21 ], (5) the external eating and emotional eating subscales of the Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire (DEBQ; van Strien et al, 1986) [ 21 ], (6) the pleasure subscale of the Dish Choice Questionnaire (Ducrot et al, 2015) [ 27 , 36 ], (7) the enjoyment of food subscale of the Adult’s Eating Behaviors Questionnaire (Hunot et al, 2016) [ 157 ], (8) an emotions questionnaire (Richins, 1997) [ 151 ], (9) the pleasure motivation subscale of the Motivation to Eat Questionnaire (Jackson et al, 2003) [ 145 , 146 ], (10) the pleasure subscale of a questionnaire developed by Lindeman et al (1999) and assessing food choice motives [ 74 ], (11) the pleasure subscale (sensory appeal) of The Food Choice Questionnaire (Steptoe et al 1995) [ 30 , 74 , 75 ], (12) the enjoyment of food subscale of the self-reported version of the Children’s Eating Behaviors Questionnaire (Loh et al, 2013) [ 158 ], (13) the pleasure eating subscale of the Meanings of Eating Index (MEI; McClain et al, 2011) [ 150 ], (14) a questionnaire assessing hedonic consumption values (Babin et al 1994) [ 33 ], (15) the pleasure motivation subscale of the Eating Motivation Survey (adapted from Renner et al, 2012) [ 13 , 34 ], (16) the pleasure subscale of a questionnaire assessing consumption attitudes (Remick et al, 2009) [ 111 ], (17) the pleasure subscale of a questionnaire developed to explore the role of food in life (Rozin et al, 1999) [ 125 , 126 ], (18) the food enjoyment subscale of a questionnaire assessing children’s relationship with food (Ensaff et al, 2016) [ 136 ] and (19) a questionnaire assessing remembered enjoyment (Robinson et al 2011) [ …”

“…Dietary behavior and health outcomes for each study are presented in Table 5 . Of the 45 studies identified, 31 (68.9%) included only dietary outcomes [ 7 , 13 , 25 – 29 , 33 , 34 , 37 , 75 , 76 , 84 , 86 , 88 , 109 , 111 , 125 , 126 , 136 , 140 , 145 – 148 , 150 – 152 , 159 , 160 , 161 ], 10 (22.2%) only health outcomes [ 30 , 35 , 36 , 74 , 89 , 112 , 137 , 156 – 158 ] and 4 (8.9%) included both dietary and health outcomes [ 21 , 31 , 32 , 141 ].…”

Meaning of food in eating patterns

“…Based on the Theory of Meanings of Health Behaviour (TMB) developed by Spruijt-Metz (1999) and its use with adolescent and adult populations, McClain et al (2011) define the meanings of food as the association between affective meanings and eating-related behaviours. These affective meanings reflect one's need for emotional balance and psychological comfort.…”

The influence of parental encouragement and caring about healthy eating on children’s diet quality and body weights

“…The same study demonstrated that increased parental involvement, or personal caring, about food improved their own diet (8,19) . Improvements in parental diet resulted in improved parental behaviour modelling, which reviews have found to be an important predictor of vegetable and fruit intake in children and adolescents (15,19,30) . Additionally, parents have frequently cited in qualitative studies that a healthy child is the primary motivator for household food practices (17,(31)(32)(33) .…”