Une approche cognitive des comportements alimentaires problématiques : le rôle de l'impulsivité, de l'inhibition, et des attitudes implicites

Une conception récente distingue quatre facettes de l'impulsivité : l'Urgence, le manque de Préméditation, le manque de Persévérance et la Recherche de Sensations. Dans ce contexte théorique, l'objectif de notre travail de thèse était d'une part d'explorer la place que les facettes de l'impulsivité occupent dans les comportements alimentaires problématiques et d'autre part d'explorer le rôle des mécanismes psychologiques sous-tendant les facettes de l'impulsivité. Nous nous sommes également penchés sur les attitudes implicites vis-à-vis de la nourriture et de la silhouette. Nous avons montré que l'Urgence, le manque de Persévérance et la Recherche de Sensations sont reliés aux comportements alimentaires problématiques. Par ailleurs, nos résultats suggèrent que les personnes boulimiques et obèses ont des difficultés d'inhibition et d'attention. En outre, nos résultats indiquent que les personnes boulimiques ont une attitude implicite négative vis-à-vis des aliments riches en calories et une attitude positive vis-à-vis des aliments pauvres en calories

Clarifying the role of impulsivity in dietary restraint: A structural equation modeling approach

This study was designed to clarify the relationship between the four dimensions of impulsivity in Whiteside and Lynam's (2001) model and the two aspects of dietary restraint (Concern for Dieting and Weight Fluctuation) in a non-clinical sample. Data were collected from a volunteer community sample (N = 216) of women who responded to two self-report instruments related to impulsivity (UPPS Impulsive Behavior Scale, Whiteside & Lynam, 2001) and dietary restraint (Restraint Scale, Polivy, Herman, & Warsh, 1978). A structural equation model was tested. The model provided a good fit to the data (v2/df = 1.64, p 0.05) = .035) and revealed that Concern for Dieting was positively related to Urgency (standardized b = 0.25, p < .01). Weight Fluctuation was related to lack of Perseverance (standardized b = 0.25, p < .01) and tended to relate to Sensation Seeking (standardized b = 0.17, p = .056). Urgency and lack of Perseverance were found to play a significant role in predicting Concern for Dieting and Weight Fluctuation

Is impulsivity responsible for obesity?

peer reviewedaudience: researcher, professional, studentObesity is a complex, multi-factorial condition involving biological, psychological and environmental (social and cultural) components. Among these, impulsivity seems to be of particular importance. Recently, Whiteside and Lynam have proposed to parse impulsivity into four separate dimensions : urgency, lack of premeditation, lack of perseverance and sensation seeking. Psychological tasks and questionnaires have been used to explore the cognitive and motivational mechanisms underlying the four facets of impulsivity in obese patients

Impulsivity, Depressive Mood, and Cannabis Use in a Representative Sample of French-Speaking Swiss Young Men

Cannabis is the most popular psychoactive substance under international regulations, with more than 192 million users worldwide. It has been associated with an addictive pattern of use and negative social and health-related outcomes in a subgroup of users. Consequently, understanding the individual differences that contribute to cannabis use and problematic use is of much importance. The current study examined the impact of impulsivity traits (negative urgency, positive urgency, lack of premeditation, lack of perseverance, sensation seeking), delay reward discounting, and depressive mood on cannabis use status during the past 6 months as well as problematic use of cannabis in a representative sample of 635 French-speaking Swiss young men recruited during their conscription in a Swiss national military recruitment center. Binary logistic and multiple linear regressions indicated that cannabis use status was significantly associated with greater depressive mood, elevated sensation seeking, and lack of perseverance, whereas problematic cannabis use was significantly related to higher depressive mood and steeper delay reward discounting. The present study highlights the importance of emotional symptoms in cannabis use and misuse. Our results also shed light on the potential psychological processes related to problematic consumption of cannabis and open avenues for preventive actions and psychological interventions that target problematic use of cannabis

Cognitive deficits in obese persons with and without binge eating disorder. Investigation using a mental flexibility task

Objective: Studies suggest that cognitive deficits and attentional biases play a role in the development and maintenance of obesity and eating disorders. In this study, we simultaneously examine attentional biases, as well as inhibitory control and mental flexibility, which are keys to controlling unwanted behaviors and thoughts in obese patients with and without binge eating disorder. Methods: 16 obese patients with binge eating disorder and 16 patients without binge eating disorder were compared with 16 normal-weight controls on a ‘‘food/body-mental flexibility task'', which allows the investigation of inhibitory control, mental flexibility and attention for stimuli related to the body and food. Results: All obese patients made significantlymore errors (i.e., pressing a key when a distracter displayed) andmore omissions (i.e., not pressing a key when a target displayed) than controls in both food and body sections of the task. Obese participants with binge eating disorder made significantly more errors and omissions than those without binge eating disorder. No difference between groups was found concerning mental flexibility and cognitive biases for food- and body-related targets. Discussion: These results suggest that obese patients have a general inhibition problemand difficulty focusing attention, which do not depend on the types of stimuli processed. The results also suggest that these cognitive deficits are more severe in obese patients with binge eating disorder, which indicates that there is a continuum of increasing inhibition and cognitive problems with increasingly disordered eating. These cognitive deficits may contribute to problematic eating behaviors

Obesity and the four facets of impulsivity

Objective: Obesity is a complex condition involving biological, psychological, sociocultural and environmental components. Impulsivity seems to be a particularly important factor. Whiteside and Lynam recently proposed dividing impulsivity into four separate dimensions: Urgency, lack of Premeditation, lack of Perseverance and Sensation Seeking (associated with a tendency to exaggerate the impact of rewards). The objective of this article is to examine how obesity and eating disorder symptoms may be related to the four facets of impulsivity. Methods: Whiteside and Lynam's Impulsive Behavior Scale, the Sensitivity to Punishment and Sensitivity to Reward Questionnaire, the Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire and the Mizes Anorectic Cognitions Questionnaire were used to explore the association between the cognitive and motivational facets of impulsivity and obesity in 47 overweight or obese persons with eating disorders and 47 normal-weight controls. Results: Results suggest that overweight and obese persons have higher levels of Urgency, lack of Perseverance and Sensitivity to Reward. Conclusion: These results suggest that obese and overweight persons have difficulty inhibiting automatic or dominant behavior and intrusive thoughts and a higher sensitivity to reward. Practice implications: Overweight and obese persons may benefit from psychological interventions targeting self-control problems associated with impulsive eating behaviors. © 2010 Elsevier Ireland Ltd

Factor structure of a French version of the eating disorder examination-questionnaire among women with and without binge eating disorder symptoms

The Eating Disorder Examination-Questionnaire (EDE-Q) is a self-report questionnaire that is widely used to investigate the core features of eating disorders. The EDE-Q is derived from the Eating Disorder Examination, a semi-structured interview considered as the ‘‘gold standard’’ in the assessment of eating disorders. To verify the factor structure of both instruments, originally composed of four subscales, factor analyses have been conducted with various samples. Heterogeneous results were found. Because no study had investigated the factor structure of the EDE-Q in individuals with binge eating disorder, the goal of our study was to fill this gap. We started with a review of the studies on the EDE and EDE-Q factor structure to decide which models to compare. Among 21 studies that were identified, three models had been replicated several times. We compared these three models—a 22-item, 3-factor model, a brief 7-item, 3-factor model and a brief 8-item, 1-factor model—in two samples of participants, one with threshold and subthreshold criteria for binge eating disorder (N = 116) and one without eating disorders (N = 161). Confirmatory factor analysis revealeda good fit for the brief 7-item, 3-factor model for both populations, whereas other solutions were not acceptable. Cronbach’s alpha coefficients of the three factors were acceptable to good, ranging between 0.714 and 0.953. The group with binge eating disorder symptoms had significantly higher scores for each factor. This brief 7-item instrument might be useful for screening or short interventions

Monique Voyer

Definitions of specific terms. Table in which all definitions of specific terms are presented in order to facilitate the reader’s understanding. (PDF 178 kb