The weight management strategies inventory (WMSI). Development of a new measurement instrument, construct validation, and association with dieting success

Food choices for weight loss: what dietary strategies would people use?

Previous observational research showed that one of the most common strategies used to lose weight is to avoid or restrict the consumption of specific food items. However, the question of how people behave and implement strategies in actual decision-making situations involving food choices for weight loss purposes remains inconclusive. This experimental study using a food buffet aimed to examine people's different dietary strategies and motives for selecting foods for an entire day for weight loss purposes compared with a normal-day (ND) food selection. A total of 111 participants (55 % women) had to choose foods for both a ND and a weight loss day (WLD) (within-study design). Kilocalories and nutrients were calculated based on the weights of the foods selected, and food choice motives were assessed using a questionnaire. The results showed that for weight loss purposes, the participants selected more vegetables (both sexes) and unsweetened beverages (only men) while reducing their choices of high-fat and high-energy products (both sexes). Participants' food choices in both conditions (ND and WLD) differed from the official nutrition recommendations. They chose less carbohydrates and fibres and more fat and sugar than recommended. Health, kilocalories and nutrient content (carbohydrates, sugar, fat and protein) were more important food choice motives for weight loss purposes than for a ND food selection, while taste became less important. In conclusion, the participants appeared to be well capable of implementing several appropriate dietary strategies. Further research is needed to explore strategies to help them maintain these dietary changes over the long term.

Weight management strategies in Middle-Aged Women (MAW): Development and validation of a questionnaire based on the Oxford Food and Activity Behaviors Taxonomy (OxFAB-MAW) in a Portuguese sample

Background

The Oxford Food and Activity Behaviors (OxFAB) taxonomy systematize the cognitive-behavioral strategies adopted by individuals who are attempting to manage their weight. The present study aimed to (1) develop a questionnaire based on the OxFAB taxonomy, specifically adapted for middle-aged women-the OxFAB-MAW-stage of life and sex, which present a high incidence of obesity, (2) assess the psychometric properties of this tool, and (3) evaluate the discriminative power of the OxFAB-MAW (normal weight vs. obesity).

Methods

Overall, 1,367 Portuguese middle-aged women between 45 and 65 years (M = 52.3, SD = 5.15) filled in a sociodemographic, health, and menopause-related questionnaire, as well as the OxFAB-MAW.

Results

Confirmatory factor analysis demonstrated an acceptable model fit (comparative fit index = 0.928, Tucker-Lewis index = 0.913, root mean square error of approximation = 0.072, and standardized root mean square residual = 0.054). Five domains with one item were grouped into other domains, and the Weight Management Aids domain was also removed. The OxFAB-MAW showed factorial, convergent, discriminant, and external validity, as well as composite reliability.

Conclusion

The OxFAB-MAW questionnaire is a valid, reliable, and theory-driven tool for assessing weight management strategies in middle-aged women, being able to discriminate between clinical and non-clinical groups (normal weight vs. obesity) in several domains. This instrument can be used to gather valid and reliable data, useful in both research and clinical settings (especially focused on structuring interventions and preventive obesity programs within this specific life cycle stage).

Using psycho-behavioral phenotyping for overweight and obesity: Confirmation of the 6 factor questionnaire

Objective

Questionnaires that assess dietary habits, eating behaviors, and relevant psychosocial constructs are routinely used in obesity research and clinical practice. The 6 factor questionnaire (6FQ) was previously developed as an assessment tool for psycho-behavioral phenotyping. The primary purpose of this study was to confirm and validate the original findings in a large diverse adult population.

Methods

A total of 5399 self-selected participants (mean age of 48 ± 13 years and body mass index of 32 ± 8 kg/m2) completed the 6FQ online. The association between self-reported demographic data and 6FQ responses was assessed using linear regression models.

Results

Mean factor score and odds ratio analyses consistently demonstrated a statistically significant relationship between factors and body weight even after adjusting for age, sex, and race/ethnicity.

Conclusions

Although the study was correlational in design, the results demonstrate that the 6FQ, an instrument that represents multidimensional unhealthful lifestyle patterns associated with diet, physical activity, cognition, and self-perception worsen with increasing body weight. Psycho-behavioral phenotyping may be a useful approach when assessing and treating patients with obesity.

A longitudinal study examining the influence of diet-related compensatory behavior on healthy weight management

The aim of the present study was to examine the role of diet-related compensatory behavior in healthy weight management regarding diet quality, physical activity, and body mass index (BMI) over time in a non-clinical general population. Data were based on the first and third waves of the Swiss Food Panel 2.0 survey, which included questions about food consumption frequencies and constructs measuring weight management strategies. Data were examined using principal component analysis and correlation analyses to examine the psychometric properties of the adapted items, and multiple linear regression analyses for longitudinal examination. The adapted items measuring diet-related compensatory behavior were shown to be valid and reliable. On a longitudinal level, the results show that diet-related compensatory behavior was a significant predictor for change in physical activity and diet quality. With a higher tendency for diet-related compensatory behavior, physical activity and diet quality increased after two years. No effect was found for changes in BMI over time. Individuals from a non-clinical population showing diet-related compensatory behavior more frequently seem to have an improved diet quality and an increase in physical activity over time. Therefore, when applied in healthy doses, diet-related compensatory behavior may contribute to the maintenance of a balanced and healthy body weight, but it is not a successful strategy for weight loss over time.

Planning and self-monitoring the quality and quantity of eating: How different styles of self-regulation strategies relate to healthy and unhealthy eating behaviors, bulimic symptoms, and BMI

This research examined if planning and self-monitoring could be distinguished in terms of quality and quantity, and if differences in the uses of these strategies were associated with distinct eating outcomes. In Study 1 (n = 355), the structure of a new scale designed to measure planning and self-monitoring in terms of quality (i.e., nutrient intake) and quantity (i.e., calories and portion sizes) was examined through Confirmatory Factor Analysis. Structural equation models were also tested in which the relationships between the proposed strategies, healthy and unhealthy eating behaviors and bulimic symptoms, as well as BMI, were examined. The purpose of Study 2 (n = 318) was to replicate the results found in Study 1, using a different sample. Overall, a 6-factor structure was found for the scale and results revealed that strategies related to the quality of eating were more strongly and positively associated with healthy eating and more strongly and negatively associated with unhealthy eating behaviors, whereas strategies related to the quantity of eating were more strongly and positively associated with bulimic symptoms and BMI. Results are discussed in terms of implications for health professionals who wish to improve individuals' eating behaviors and/or weight.

Historical Sustenance Style and Social Orientations in China: Chinese Mongolians Are More Independent Than Han Chinese

In this study, we examined the Chinese Han and Mongolian, two ethnic groups that belong to the same national and geographic regions but vary in their degrees of social interdependence and independence. We assumed that the Mongolian, who have traditionally been known as a herding community, exhibit a greater independent social orientation compared to the Han Chinese, who have traditionally been known as an agrarian community. Through three different studies we used the explicit measurement of self-construal, implicit cultural task of self - inflation and the practice of name-giving (i.e., baby names as a cultural product) to test our hypothesis. The obtained results revealed that compared to Han Chinese, Mongolian scored higher on independent - self subscale, had greater levels of self-symbolic inflation and were less likely to give common names to their babies. These findings suggest that Mongolians are more independent than Han Chinese. In view of that, the present study contributes to a better understanding of the complexity of Chinese culture in terms of interdependence and independence, and provides further support for historical sustenance theory.

A Contextual Behavioral Account of Culture: Example Implementation of a Functional Behavioral Approach to the Study of Cultural Differences in Social Anxiety

The current article proposes integrating a functional behavior approach to the study of culture. After describing culture from a contextual behavioral science framework, we outline a three-step process to perform a functional behavior analysis of culture: (1) identifying potential contingencies, (2) determining functional relationships, and (3) gathering supporting evidence. As an example, we present each of the three steps through a re-analysis of data related to cultural differences in social anxiety between Japanese and European Americans as well as describe a hypothetical experiment. The results demonstrate how implementing an alternative framework that focuses on the relationship between behavioral function and environmental adaptability leads to different conclusions compared to implementing frameworks that emphasize the form or degree of a behavior or belief in one group compared to another. For this particular example, in contrast to viewing social anxiety in Japanese as something stemming from innate beliefs about themselves and others (e.g., self-construal), the current study suggests that displaying social anxiety in some situations within a Japanese context is more functionally adaptive (e.g., more likely leads to desirable outcomes) than within a European American context.

Cultural Orientation of Self-Bias in Perceptual Matching

Previous research on cross-culture comparisons found that Western cultures tend to value independence and the self is construed as an autonomous individual, while Eastern cultures value interdependence and self-identity is perceived as embedded among friends and family members (Markus and Kitayama, 1991). The present experiment explored these cultural differences in the context of a paradigm developed by Sui et al. (2012), which found a bias toward the processing of self-relevant information using perceptual matching tasks. In this task, each neutral shape (i.e., triangle, circle, square) is associated with a person (i.e., self, friend, stranger), and faster and more accurate responses were found to formerly neutral stimuli tagged to the self compared to stimuli tagged to non-self. With this paradigm, the current study examined cross-cultural differences in the self-bias effect between participants from Hong Kong and the United Kingdom. Results demonstrated a reliable self-bias effect across groups consistent with previous studies. Importantly, a variation was identified in a larger self-bias toward stranger-associated stimuli in the United Kingdom participants than the Hong Kong participants. This suggested the cultural modulation of the self-bias effect in perceptual matching.

Women's social eating environment and its associations with dietary behavior and weight management

As an unhealthy social eating environment is considered a risk factor for obesity, this study aimed to examine women's regular eating networks and the extent to which diet-related variables were associated with those of their regular eating companions. In Study Part I (N = 579), an egocentric network approach was used to investigate women's perceptions of their eating networks. In Study Part II (N = 262), the participants' most important eating companions responded to a similar survey, and the corresponding answers were matched. The results showed that women shared their meals most frequently with spouses and other family members. Women who dined more often with healthy eaters reported on average a higher diet quality and a lower body mass index (BMI), which were also significant after controlling for individual factors. Study Part II expanded these results by showing that different diet-related factors such as diet quality, eating styles and BMI were correlated between women and their most important eating companions (r = 0.16-0.30, p < 0.05). Moreover, an actor-partner interdependence model revealed that a higher diet quality of the eating companions was associated with a lower BMI in women, controlled for their own eating behavior (b = -0.45, p < 0.05). This study showed similarities and interdependence between women's dietary behavior and body weight and those of their regular eating companions. This might indicate that regular eating networks have a shared understanding of what constitutes a normal diet, which might be an important factor to consider in the promotion of healthy eating.

Development of a six-factor questionnaire for use in weight management counseling

OBJECTIVE

To develop and validate a new 6 factor questionnaire (6-FQ) that identifies unhealthful behavioral, cognitive and affective lifestyle pattern factors among a large sample of adults who are overweight or obese.

METHODS

Based on a previously developed 53-item lifestyle patterns questionnaire completed by 10,000 subjects, a new 6-FQ was developed and validated by using two prospective subject groups (n=640) with combined mean age of 43±11.4years and BMI 33.8±9.1kg/m².

RESULTS

An exploratory factor analysis and multidimensional scaling were conducted that identified 6 distinct factors with excellent psychometric properties. Cronbach's internal consistency reliability estimates ranged from 0.76 to 0.85. The prevalence rates and odds ratios of the factors are generally and directly related with increasing BMI categories. The 6-FQ is highly correlated with multiple subscales from the co-administered IWQOL-Lite questionnaire.

CONCLUSIONS

The 6-FQ is a 27-item self-administered instrument with excellent psychometric properties that measures patients' lifestyle pattern factors.

PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS

The 6-FQ is a convenient, short, self-administered instrument that has potential to target patients' self-identified lifestyle patterns related to body weight, and should allow clinicians to efficiently and effectively counsel patients on targeted treatment recommendations.

Development and validation of the Self-Regulation of Eating Behaviour Questionnaire for adults

Background

Eating self-regulatory capacity can help individuals to cope with the obesogenic environment and achieve, as well as maintain, a healthy weight and diet. At present, there is no comprehensive, reliable and valid questionnaire for assessing this capacity and measuring change in response to self-regulation interventions in adults. This paper reports the development of the Self-regulation of Eating Behaviour Questionnaire (SREBQ) for use in UK adults, and presents evidence for its reliability and construct validity.

The development of the SREBQ involved generation of an item pool, followed by two pilot studies (Samples 1 and 2) and a test of the questionnaire’s underlying factor structure (Sample 3). The final version of the SREBQ was then assessed for reliability and construct validity (Sample 4).

Results

Development of the SREBQ resulted in a 5-item questionnaire. The face validity was satisfactory, as assessed by the pilot studies. The factor structure analysis (Sample 3) suggested that it has a single underlying factor, which was confirmed in a second sample (Sample 4). The SREBQ had strong construct validity, showing a positive correlation with general measures of self-regulation. It was also positively correlated with motivation and behavioural automaticity, and negatively correlated with food responsiveness and emotional over-eating (p < 0.001). It showed good discriminant validity, as it was only weakly associated with satiety responsiveness, food fussiness and slowness in eating.

Conclusions

The SREBQ is a reliable and valid measure for assessment of eating self-regulatory capacity in the general UK adult population.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12966-016-0414-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.