From Pixels to Palate: Communication around #vegan on Instagram and its relation with eating intentions.

Social media is an increasingly important yet understudied context for eating behaviors in general and veganism in particular. In four studies, we first explored and described the information environment the platform Instagram presents related to veganism. Second, we examined how engaging with this environment is associated with offline eating intentions via psychological mechanisms. We scraped datasets of Instagram posts tagged with #vegan (44,316 posts in total) and employed network analysis with their hashtags (Study 1), as well as clustering with images and sentiment analysis with texts (Study 2). Studies 3 (N = 117) and 4 (N = 251) used online surveys to investigate associations between different forms of engaging with social media content, psychological constructs, and offline eating intentions. Posts about veganism were frequently related to food, health and fitness, cosmetics, and photography. Images most often depicted food (34.7%), non-food products (30.4%), people (7.9%), and animals (2.0%). The sentiment of most posts was positive. Being exposed to Instagram content about veganism was more strongly and consistently associated with eating intentions than active forms of engagement. Attitude and self-identity emerged as the most relevant mechanisms for these effects. Food is the most prominent yet not sole topic among posts about veganism on Instagram, and hashtags used in this context partially relate to motives for following a vegan diet. Exposure to this information environment might influence offline eating decisions via psychological mechanisms. With growing usage and its potential influence, social media should receive increasing attention in (health) psychological research and practice.

How eating-related social media postings influence healthy eating in senders and network members: Two field experiments with intensive longitudinal data.

Young adults are frequently confronted with eating-related social media content. How such exposure influences eating in those who post and their network members is largely unknown. We conducted two intensive longitudinal field experiments combining self-reports with social media data. The posting behavior of young adults was manipulated. We examined how postings about fruit and vegetables affected intake in senders and their network members (Study 1, N = 81) and in senders with a change goal (Study 2, N = 128). Potential mechanisms of action were explored. Descriptively, posting led to a stronger increase of senders' and network members' intake, but this increase was not statistically significant. Posting led to higher perceived social support and injunctive norms of senders (Study 1). Posting supported eating behavior change; the effect size was comparable to picture-based self-monitoring of intake (Study 2). Intraindividual variations in senders' daily eating-related social media activities were associated with daily eating behavior and perceived social support (both studies), daily self-efficacy, experiential and instrumental attitudes, and goal commitment (Study 2). Our studies underline that social media environments should be considered in research and interventions targeting eating behavior of young adults.

Education- and income-related differences in processed meat consumption across Europe: The role of food-related attitudes.

PURPOSE: Dietary behaviors differ between socio-economic groups and are one key determinant of health inequalities. Psychological factors such as attitudes are assumed to underlie the relation between inequality and dietary behaviors, but this assumption has rarely been tested empirically. We focus on a specific food group shown as detrimental to health: processed meat. METHODS: In two representative international surveys (Survey 1: N = 10,226 participants from nine European countries - Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Russia, Spain, UK; Survey 2: N = 9149 participants from the same countries, except not including Austria and the Netherlands), participants reported inequality indicators (education, income), processed meat consumption as well as their attitudes toward nutrition and food. PRINCIPAL RESULTS: There were diverging relationships between indicators of inequality and processed meat consumption: the higher the educational attainment, the lower the consumption of processed meat (rSurvey1 = -0.062, p < .001; rSurvey2 = -0.071, p < .001). At the same time, higher income was related to higher processed meat consumption (rSurvey1 = 0.088, p < .001; rSurvey2 = 0.152, p < .001). A path model showed that four of seven attitude factors mediated the relation between education and processed meat consumption (i.e., indifference toward nutrition and food, preference for regional and fresh food, processed food consumption, health efforts); none of the attitude factors mediated the relation between income and overall processed meat consumption. CONCLUSIONS: Processed meats are consumed very frequently across European countries. The relation between inequality and processed meat consumption is heterogeneous and partially mediated by attitudes. More research is needed to better understand how psychological factors explain social inequality in nutrition behaviors and health in general.

Nudging and boosting children's restaurant menus for healthier food choice: a blinded quasi-randomized controlled trial in a real life setting.

BACKGROUND: Restaurants are ideal settings for implementing food interventions targeted at children. Studies with adults suggest that changes to the physical menu can lead to healthier food choices; online studies with parents indicate that specific menu designs facilitate healthier choices. However, it is unknown whether applying well-established nudging and boosting methods to children's menus also increases their choice of healthier meals in a real-world restaurant setting. METHODS: The effects of two versions of a restaurant menu on the frequency of choosing a healthy meal (newly created, healthy target dish) were tested in a blinded quasi-randomized controlled trial. The menu in the control condition contained all dishes (including the healthy target dish) in a standardized format. The intervention menu included nudging (e.g. comic character, fun attractive name for the dish) and boosting elements (e.g. information on low calorie density) next to the healthy target dish. Over five months, the control and intervention menus were switched every two weeks and records were made of how often the healthy target dish was ordered. RESULTS: In total, 607 orders were made from the children's restaurant menu (57% from the intervention menu). During the intervention phase, 4.2% of all ordered dishes from the children's menu were the healthy target dish, during the control phase, 4.4% of orders were for the target dish (p=.896). CONCLUSIONS: Contrary to our hypothesis, a modified children's menu did not lead to a significant increase in the number of orders for a healthy dish compared with a neutral control menu. Importantly, given that parents and children often choose the child's dish together, particularly boosting methods that focus on social processes and joint decision making could be promising to increase children's frequency of healthy food choices in restaurants. TRIAL REGISTRATION: DRKS00027039 , registered on 11/22/2021, (Retrospectively registered).

Happy and healthy: How family mealtime routines relate to child nutritional health.

Children eat most of their meals in a family context, making family meals a key environment in which to learn about healthy food. What makes a family meal "healthy"? This diary study examined the practice of seven family mealtime routines (e.g., positive mealtime atmosphere, parental modeling, and longer meal duration) and their predictive value for children's healthier nutrition focusing on everyday family meal settings. Over 7 consecutive days, parents from N = 310 families (Mage = 42 years) described their most important family meal of the day and food intake for an index child (Mage = 9 years) and indicated what mealtime routines were practiced during the family meal. On average, each parent responded to 5.6 (SD = 1.4) of seven daily surveys. Mean correlations between mealtime routines were small (rs between -0.14 and 0.25), suggesting independent and distinct routines. Creating a positive atmosphere and turning TV and smartphones off were reported most often (on average, 91.2% and 90.5%, respectively). Parent's fruit and vegetable intake and creating a positive mealtime atmosphere were the strongest predictors for children's higher nutritional quality (i.e., higher vegetable and fruit intake; ps < .001). Findings indicate that mealtime routines obtained from independent meta-analyses represent distinct routines. Families practiced these independent and distinct routines to different degrees. Parental modeling and a positive mealtime atmosphere were most predictive of healthier child nutrition in daily family meal settings. More experimental research is needed to better understand causality and provide a better basis for effective interventions.

Accuracy of food preference predictions in couples.

The goal of this study was to identify and empirically test variables that indicate how well partners in relationships know each other's food preferences. Participants (n = 2,854) lived in the same household and were part of a large, nationally representative panel study in Germany. Each partner independently predicted the other's preferences for several common food items. Results show that predictive accuracy was higher for likes and for extreme and stereotypical preferences as compared to dislikes and for moderate and idiosyncratic preferences. Accuracy was also higher for couples with a high similarity in preferences and with longer relationship duration but was independent of participants' age after controlling for relationship duration. The data also show that relationship duration was accompanied by higher similarity in couples' food preferences. There was a small positive correlation between partner knowledge and both partner similarity and satisfaction with family life, but no correlation between partner knowledge and general life satisfaction. The results reconcile both valence and base-rate accounts of preference prediction accuracy.

Parents' considerable underestimation of sugar and their child's risk of overweight.

High sugar intake is associated with an increased risk of overweight. For parents, as their children's nutritional gatekeepers, knowledge about sugar is a prerequisite for regulating sugar consumption. Yet little is known about parental ability to estimate the sugar content of foods and beverages and how this ability is associated with children's body mass index (BMI). In 305 parent-child pairs, we investigated to what extent parents systematically under- or overestimate the sugar content of foods and beverages commonly found in children's diets as well as potential associations with children's z-BMI. Parents considerably underestimated the sugar content of most foods and beverages (e.g., 92% of parents underestimated the sugar content of yogurt by, on average, seven sugar cubes). After controlling for parental education and BMI, parental sugar underestimation was significantly associated with a higher risk of their child being overweight or obese (odds ratio = 2.01). There was a small dose-response relationship between the degree of underestimation and the child's z-BMI. These findings suggest that providing easily accessible and practicable knowledge about sugar content through, for instance, nutritional labeling may improve parents' intuition about sugar. This could help curtail sugar intake in children and thus be a preventive measure for overweight.

Public Beliefs About Obesity Relative to Other Major Health Risks: Representative Cross-Sectional Surveys in the USA, the UK, and Germany.

Background: Overweight and obesity are among the leading risk factors for death worldwide. Scientists believe that the increase in obesity is primarily due to environmental changes and thus favor obesity prevention measures targeting the environment. However, it is less clear what lay people perceive as causes of obesity, and which measures they deem acceptable and promising in fighting it. Purpose: This article compares lay beliefs about obesity with beliefs about other major health risks sharing certain similarities with obesity (alcohol and tobacco dependence, depression) in three countries with high obesity rates. Methods: Computer-assisted face-to-face interviews with representative samples in the UK (N = 1,216) and Germany (N = 973) and an online survey in the USA (N = 982) tapping beliefs about locus of responsibility, liability for treatment costs, and effectiveness of policy measures. Results: In each country, respondents attributed responsibility for obesity primarily to the individual; the same pattern emerged for alcohol and tobacco dependence, but not for depression (ps < .01). The higher the attribution of personal responsibility, the more strongly respondents endorsed individual liability for treatment costs (ps < .01). Respondents judged information and fiscal policies as most and least effective, respectively, in obesity prevention. Conclusions: Respondents' views about obesity are similar to those about addictions; however, they regard fiscal and regulatory policies as less effective for obesity than for addictions. Raising awareness about environmental drivers of obesity and framing policy measures by reference to the fight against tobacco and alcohol could increase public support of obesity-targeted policies.

Day-to-day variations in health behaviors and daily functioning: two intensive longitudinal studies.

In two intensive longitudinal studies we examined the daily dynamics in health behaviors and their associations with two important indicators of young adults' daily functioning, namely, affect and academic performance. Over a period of 8 months, university students (Study 1: N = 292; Study 2: N = 304) reported sleep, physical activity, snacking, positive and negative affect, and learning goal achievement. A subsample wore an actigraph to provide an additional measurement of sleep and physical activity and participated in a controlled laboratory snacking situation. Multilevel structural equation models showed that better day-to-day sleep quality or more physical activity than usual, but not snacking, were associated with improved daily functioning, namely, affect and learning goal achievement. Importantly, self-report measurements of health behaviors correlated with behavioral measurements. These findings have the potential to inform health promotion programs aimed at supporting young adults in their daily functioning in good physical and mental health.

Social nature of eating could explain missing link between food insecurity and childhood obesity.

We suggest that social factors are key to explain the missing link between food insecurity and obesity in children. Parents and public institutions are children's nutritional gatekeepers. They protect children from food insecurity by trimming down their consumption or by institutional support. To gauge children's food insecurity, evaluations across the different nutritional gatekeepers need to be integrated.

Symptom recognition of heart attack and stroke in nine European countries: a representative survey.

BACKGROUND: Cardiovascular diseases are the number one cause of death and a source of chronic disability. OBJECTIVES: To assess recognition of and reaction to symptoms of heart attack and stroke, and how recognition is related to the frequency of consulting physicians and other information sources. DESIGN: Face-to-face computer-assisted personal interviews. PARTICIPANTS: Representative sample of 10,228 persons in Austria, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Russia, Spain and UK, aged 14-98. MAIN OUTCOME VARIABLES: Recognition of heart attack and stroke symptoms and proper reaction to symptoms. RESULTS: Chest pain was the only heart attack symptom recognized by more than 50% of participants. Eight percent knew no symptoms. Of 14 stroke symptoms, none was recognized by more than 50% of participants; 19% could not identify any symptom. For both heart attack and stroke, Germans and Austrians recognized the largest number of symptoms. Persons in Italy, Poland, Russia and Spain knew only about half as many symptoms as in Germany or Austria. Only 51% of Europeans would call an ambulance when someone suffers a stroke, the fewest (33 and 34%) in Germany and Austria. In most countries, people who consulted their physician more frequently had no better recognition of heart attack or stroke symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: The majority of persons in nine European countries recognize few heart attack and stroke symptoms; many do not know how to react. This low level of knowledge constitutes a major health risk and likely leads to delay in treatment, contributing to the high mortality and morbidity from these diseases.

The immediate effect of discrimination on mental health: A meta-analytic review of the causal evidence.

This meta-analysis synthesizes experimental studies on the immediate effects of discrimination on mental health, exploring the effects of different paradigms and discrimination types on diverse facets of mental health. We analyzed data from a systematic literature search (73 studies; 12,097 participants; 245 effect sizes) for randomized controlled trials with manipulation of discrimination as a predictor and mental health as an outcome using a three-level random-effects model. Experimentally manipulated discrimination led to poorer mental health (g = -0.30), also after controlling for publication year, region, education level, and methodological quality. Moderator analyses revealed stronger effects for pervasive (g = -0.55) compared to single-event manipulations (g = -0.25) and a trend toward weaker effects for samples with nonmarginalized (g = -0.16) compared to marginalized identities (g = -0.34). Gender and age did not moderate the effect. Discrimination had the largest effects on externalizing (g = -0.66) and distress-related outcomes (g = -0.41); heterosexism (g = -0.66), racism (g = -0.32), and sexism (g = -0.30) had the largest effects on mental health. Convenience sampling compromised generalizability to subgroups and the general population, downgrading methodological quality for all included studies. When interpreting the findings, selective samples (mostly young female adults with higher education), often limited ecological validity, and ethical restrictions of lab-induced discrimination need to be considered. These constraints likely led to conservative estimates of the mental health effects of discrimination in this meta-analysis. Future research should investigate more diverse samples, further explain the heterogeneity of findings, and explore protective factors of the effects of discrimination on mental health. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Correlates of health-related quality of life, psychological well-being, and eating self-regulation after successful weight loss maintenance.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate health-related quality of life and other psychosocial characteristics, including eating self-regulation and body image, in a group of successful long-term weight loss maintainers. Women enrolled in the Portuguese Weight Control Registry (n = 107) were matched and compared to women at the end of a behavior weight loss treatment program (n = 107), and also with women in the community who were not trying to lose weight (n = 107). Successful maintainers displayed higher quality of life and a more positive profile in selected eating and exercise markers of self-regulation compared to similarly-weighed women not attempting weight loss, but not when compared to the 'weight loss treatment' group. However, results also suggest that concerns with body shape and size may persist after weight loss and that some aspects of well-being and eating self-regulation can be more successfully targeted in specific weight loss programs.

Deliberate ignorance-a barrier for information interventions targeting reduced meat consumption?

OBJECTIVE: Despite abundant information about negative consequences of consuming meat, consumption in many Western countries is many times higher than recommended. One possible explanation for this discrepancy is that people consciously decide to ignore such information-a phenomenon called deliberate ignorance. We investigated this potential barrier for information interventions aiming to reduce meat consumption. METHODS: In three studies, a total of 1133 participants had the opportunity to see 18 information chunks on negative consequences of meat consumption or to ignore part of the information. Deliberate ignorance was measured as the number of ignored information chunks. We assessed potential predictors and outcomes of deliberate ignorance. Interventions to reduce deliberate ignorance (i.e., self-affirmation, contemplation, and self-efficacy) were experimentally tested. RESULTS: The more information participants ignored, the less they changed their intention to reduce their meat consumption (r = -.124). This effect was partially explained by cognitive dissonance induced by the presented information. While neither self-affirmation nor contemplation exercises reduced deliberate ignorance, self-efficacy exercises did. CONCLUSION: Deliberate ignorance is a potential barrier for information interventions aiming to reduce meat consumption and needs to be considered in future interventions and research. Self-efficacy exercises are a promising approach to reduce deliberate ignorance and should be further explored.

Effect of Longer Family Meals on Children's Fruit and Vegetable Intake: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

Importance: Family meals are a formative learning environment that shapes children's food choices and preferences. As such, they are an ideal setting for efforts to improve children's nutritional health. Objective: To examine the effect of extending the duration of family meals on the fruit and vegetable intake in children. Design, Setting, and Participants: This randomized clinical trial used a within-dyad manipulation design and was conducted from November 8, 2016, to May 5, 2017, in a family meal laboratory in Berlin, Germany. Included in the trial were children aged 6 to 11 years who did not follow a special diet or have food allergies and adult parents who served as the nutritional gatekeeper in the household (ie, the family member responsible for at least half of the food planning and preparation). All participants underwent 2 conditions: control, defined as regular family mealtime duration, and intervention, defined as 50% longer mealtime duration (10 minutes longer on average). Participants were randomized to the condition they would complete first. Statistical analyses of the full sample were conducted between June 2 and October 30, 2022. Interventions: Participants had 2 free evening meals under different conditions. In the control or regular condition, each dyad ate in the same amount of time as their reported regular mealtime duration. In the intervention or longer condition, each dyad had 50% more time to eat than their reported regular mealtime duration. Main Outcomes and Measures: The primary outcome was the number of pieces of fruits and vegetables eaten by the child during a meal. Results: A total of 50 parent-child dyads participated in the trial. Parents had a mean (range) age of 43 (28-55 years) years and were predominantly mothers (36 [72%]). Children had a mean (range) age of 8 (6-11) years and included an equal number of girls and boys (25 [50%]). Children ate significantly more pieces of fruits (t49 = 2.36, P = .01; mean difference [MD], 3.32 [95% CI, 0.96 to ∞]; Cohen d = 0.33) and vegetables (t49 = 3.66, P < .001; MD, 4.05 [95% CI, 2.19 to ∞]; Cohen d = 0.52) in the longer condition than in the regular mealtime duration condition. Consumption of bread and cold cuts did not significantly differ between conditions. The children's eating rate (bites per minute over the regular mealtime duration) was significantly lower in the longer than in the regular condition (t49 = -7.60, P < .001; MD, -0.72 [95% CI, -0.56 to ∞]; Cohen d = 1.08). Children reported significantly higher satiety after the longer condition (V = 36.5, P < .001). Conclusions and Relevance: Results of this randomized clinical trial suggest that the simple, low-threshold intervention of increasing family mealtime duration by approximately 10 minutes can improve the quality of children's diet and eating behavior. The findings underscore the potential for such an intervention to improve public health. Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT03127579.

Feeling blue or turquoise? Emotional differentiation in major depressive disorder.

Some individuals have very specific and differentiated emotional experiences, such as anger, shame, excitement, and happiness, whereas others have more general affective experiences of pleasure or discomfort that are not as highly differentiated. Considering that individuals with major depressive disorder (MDD) have cognitive deficits for negative information, we predicted that people with MDD would have less differentiated negative emotional experiences than would healthy people. To test this hypothesis, we assessed participants' emotional experiences using a 7-day experience-sampling protocol. Depression was assessed using structured clinical interviews and the Beck Depression Inventory-II. As predicted, individuals with MDD had less differentiated emotional experiences than did healthy participants, but only for negative emotions. These differences were above and beyond the effects of emotional intensity and variability.

Motivation, self-determination, and long-term weight control.

This article explores the topics of motivation and self-regulation in the context of weight management and related behaviors. We focus on the role of a qualitative approach to address motivation--not only considering the level but also type of motivation--in weight control and related behaviors. We critically discuss the operationalization of motivation in current weight control programs, present a complementary approach to understanding motivation based on self-determination theory, and review empirical findings from weight control studies that have used self-determination theory measures and assessed their association with weight outcomes. Weight loss studies which used Motivational Interviewing (MI) are also reviewed, considering MI's focus on enhancing internal motivation. We hypothesize that current weight control interventions may have been less successful with weight maintenance in part due to their relative disregard of qualitative dimensions of motivation, such as level of perceived autonomy, often resulting in a motivational disconnect between weight loss and weight-related behaviors. We suggest that if individuals fully endorse weight loss-related behavioral goals and feel not just competent but also autonomous about reaching them, as suggested by self-determination theory, their efforts are more likely to result in long-lasting behavior change.

A theory-based video intervention to enhance communication and engagement in online health communities: two experiments.

BACKGROUND: Online communities and social networking sites have great potential for supporting health behavior change. However, interventions vary greatly in participants' engagement rates and, consequently, their effectiveness. Theory-based interventions in real-world contexts are needed to further increase engagement and effectiveness. METHODS: We experimentally tested whether a video intervention teaching Self-Determination-Theory-based communication strategies increases need-supportive communication strategy use over one week (Study 1, N = 76) and perceived need support, engagement, and goal attainment in a behavior change intervention supported by a forum-based online community (Study 2, N = 537). In Study 2, participants chose a goal (increasing either fruit or vegetable consumption or increasing moderate or vigorous physical activity) and joined an online community for 2 weeks. Data from both experiments were analyzed with mixed models and follow-up tests. RESULTS: In Study 1, participants in the intervention but not in the control group showed an increase in the number of need-supportive communication strategies used both immediately and one week after the intervention (condition × time interaction, partial η 2 = 0.31). In Study 2, participants who watched the intervention video had a higher number of postings and reported a higher subjective forum use frequency (but not a higher number of logins) compared to participants who watched the control video. However, the effect on the subjective forum visit frequency was not robust. There were no intervention effects on perceived need support, goal attainment, or secondary outcomes. The results might be explained by low application of need-supportive communication strategies. CONCLUSION: A brief video intervention may be a suitable, low-cost intervention to promote need-supportive communication strategy use, benefitting both engagement and behavior change. Future studies should incorporate additional means to further improve communication strategy uptake and engagement in online communities.

Socioeconomic differences in animal food consumption: Education rather than income makes a difference.

Background/aims: Evidence points toward more sustainable and health-conscious dietary behaviors among individuals with higher socioeconomic status. However, these differences vary considerably depending on which indicator of socioeconomic status is examined. Here, we present a systematic parallel investigation of multiple indicators of socioeconomic status as predictors of animal food consumption frequency and selected food-related behaviors in Germany. Methods: Data from the German subsample of two large representative European consumer studies (Study 1 n = 1,954; Study 2 n = 2,045) was used. We assessed the associations between the socioeconomic indicators income, current occupation as well as education and consumption frequency of animal foods and selected food-related behaviors in separate ordinal logistic regressions. Results: Individuals with higher educational attainment engaged in more sustainable and health-conscious dietary behaviors, indicated by significant associations between educational attainment and the consumption frequency of animal foods. Low- and middle-income participants consumed processed meat more frequently (Study 1 only; medium income: OR 1.5, CI 1.09-2.05, p = 0.012; low income: OR 1.43, CI 1.01-2.05, p = 0.047) and fish less frequently (Study 2 only; medium income: OR 0.76, CI 0.59-0.97, p = 0.026; low income: OR 0.061, CI 0.46-0.82, p < 0.001) than participants with high income. Current occupation did not predict the consumption of animal foods or food-related behaviors. Intake frequency of animal-based foods indicates that most participants exceeded national dietary recommendations for meat and processed meat and remained below recommendations for fish and dairy/eggs intake. Conclusion: Educational attainment appears to be the strongest and most consistent socioeconomic indicator of sustainable dietary choices in Germany based on current large, representative studies. Future efforts should be directed toward education interventions about nutrition and interpretation of food labels to compensate for differences in dietary behavior among groups with different levels of education.

5-HTTLPR moderates the relation between changes in depressive and bulimic symptoms in adolescent girls: a longitudinal study.

OBJECTIVE: Depression and bulimia both are associated with low serotonin levels. We examined whether the serotonin transporter gene (5-HTTLPR) moderates the relation between depressive and bulimic symptoms over time. METHOD: Fifty adolescent girls with no current or past Axis I disorder were genotyped for the 5-HTTLPR gene. Twice, 6 months apart, participants completed self-report measures of depressive symptoms and bulimic symptoms. RESULTS: The association between change in depressive symptoms and change in bulimic symptoms over time was significantly stronger in girls who are homozygous for the short 5-HTTLPR allele than for girls with at least one long allele. DISCUSSION: This finding is consistent with previous studies documenting a relation between depressive and bulimic symptoms in adolescents. Few studies, however, considered the possible role of serotonin linking both disorders. Gaining a better understanding of developmental effects of low serotonin could help to identify high-risk individuals and provide effective prevention and intervention.