Punishment and Reward Sensitivity: Are Naturally Occurring Clusters in These Traits Related to Eating and Weight Problems in Adolescents?

Abstract

Little is known about the role of sensitivity to punishment (SP) and reward (SR) in eating problems during adolescence. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to examine the naturally occurring clusters of high and low SP and SR among nonclinical adolescents and the between-cluster differences in various eating problems and weight. A total of 579 adolescents (14-19 years, 39.8% boys) completed the Sensitivity to Punishment and Sensitivity to Reward Questionnaire (SPSRQ), the Behavioural Inhibition System and Behavioural Activation System scales (BIS/BAS scales), the Dutch Eating Behaviour Questionnaire and the Child Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire and were weighed and measured. On the basis of the SPSRQ, four clusters were established, interpreted as lowSP × lowSR, lowSP × highSR, highSP × highSR and highSP × lowSR. These were associated with eating problems but not with adjusted body mass index. It seemed that specifically the highSP × highSR cluster outscored the other clusters on eating problems. These results were partly replicated with the BIS/BAS scales, although less significant relations between the clusters and eating problems were found. The implications of the findings in terms of possible risk and protective clusters are discussed.

How Does the Brain Implement Adaptive Decision Making to Eat?

“…In turn, AgRp-containing neurons in the arcuate nucleus mainly target neurons in the paraventricular nucleus that express melanocortin 4 receptors (MCR4; . Stimulation of the MCR4 decreases food intake (Adan and Kas, 2003;Lubrano-Berthelier et al, 2003;Srinivasan et al, 2004;Kim et al, 2008).…”

“…A working hypothesis: decision making to eat could partly depend on neural pathways concerned with dealing with stress. A, Efferent neurons of the mPFC mainly target the DR (Sesack et al, 1989;Peyron et al, 1998;Vertes, 2004) and contain glutamate (GLU) (Lee et al, 2003). With regard to the reciprocal descending projections, 5-HT neurons in the mPFC mainly arise from the DR and send axon collaterals to the NAc (Van Bockstaele et al, 1993).…”

“…1), suggesting that these receptors enhance CREB phosphorylation. Considering that inhibition of the transcription factor CREB in the NAc has been associated with anxiety-like behavior (Barrot et al, 2005), anorexia induced by stimulation of 5-HTR 4 in the NAc could favor the "anxiety-reducing character to dietary restraint" (Vitousek and Manke, 1994;Kaye et al, 2003;Steinglass et al, 2010). In contrast, reduced activation of 5-HTR 4 could enhance anxiety that is provoked by overeating.…”

Sensitivity to reward is associated with snack and sugar-sweetened beverage consumption in adolescents

“…Studies showed that individuals higher in SR have a greater risk of being overweight, experience more food cravings and episodes of emotional eating and have a higher activation of brain areas implicated in food reward [14,20,21,[28][29][30]. The few studies that addressed SR in adolescence concentrated mainly on dysfunctional eating [31,32]. This scarcity is unfortunate as SR increases from childhood to adulthood with a peak in adolescence, while at the same time inhibitory control matures at a slower pace [33].…”

Inferior frontal cortex activity is modulated by reward sensitivity and performance variability

“…Reward sensitivity is also associated with increased vulnerability to disorders characterized by poor impulse control, such as Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD, Mitchell and Nelson-Gray, 2006), substance use, dependence or addiction (Knyazev, 2004;Pardo et al, 2007;Yen et al, 2012), eating disorders (Glashouwer et al, 2014;Matton et al, 2014Matton et al, , 2013, and cluster B personality disorders (Bijttebier et al, 2009;Pastor et al, 2007;Taylor et al, 2006). Patients with these disorders also tend to show impairments in response inhibition tasks, especially in ADHD, where deficient behavioral inhibition has been considered a core feature of the disorder (Alderson et al, 2007).…”