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The concept of food addiction, characterized by a strong urge to overeat highly palatable foods, has gained increased research attention over the last decade. College students are a recognized risk group for manifesting an eating pathology and weight gain due to the changes in eating habits experienced during this period. However, there is a gap in the literature connecting food addiction with eating and weight variables in this population. Thus, the present study aims to characterize food addiction in a sample of college students and enlighten the relationship between food addiction, weight-variables, eating habits, and food choices in this population. A sample of 194 college students (89.2% females) aged between 18 and 32 years old (M = 20.85, SD = 2.78) completed a set of self-reported online questionnaires on Google Forms. Namely, a Sociodemographic and Anthropometric Questionnaire, a questionnaire on Food Choices Characterization, the Eating Habits Scale, and the Portuguese Yale Food Addiction Scale 2.0. Thirty (22.2%) participants presented food addiction problems. The logistic regression models utilized suggest that participants in the group with food addiction problems are more likely to seek clinical help to control weight, to consider that they should eat less food high in sugar, and to report lower food adequacy. In sum, this finding highlighted a connection between food addiction, weight dissatisfaction, eating habits, and food choices in college students, a population at risk for developing and retaining eating pathologies. Further research is essential to evaluate and implement interventions regarding food addiction, weight dissatisfaction, eating habits, and food choices in college students.

Background Preliminary evidence suggests bariatric patients’ unrealistic expectations regarding weight loss after bariatric surgery are related to worse weight outcomes. Objectives This study aimed to examine preoperative weight loss expectations and their association with weight loss, body image, eating behavior, and depressive symptoms. Setting Hospital Centers, Portugal. Methods This longitudinal study assessed 64 bariatric patients. Participants were asked about their desired postoperative weight and responded to the following set of self-report measures before and 2 years after surgery: Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire, Beck Depression Inventory, and Body Shape Questionnaire. Results The majority of participants (81.1%) did not reach the desired weight, 10 (13.5%) lost more weight than initially expected, and only 4 (5.4%) obtained the desired weight. More discrepant expectations were associated with more dissatisfaction with the body image and higher scores concerning eating psychopathology after surgery but not presurgery. Postsurgery body dissatisfaction and weight concerns were significant mediators in the relationship between discrepant expectations and poorer weight loss. Conclusions This study shows bariatric patients hold preoperative unrealistic expectations about their weight loss, and that they sustain those expectations in the postoperative time. Our findings bring evidence for an interplay between preoperative and postoperative factors to explain weight loss. Educating about flexible weight loss goals before surgery may be a simple strategy to optimize psychological functioning and weight loss after surgery.

APOLO-Teens is a Facebook-based psychological intervention aiming to optimize hospital treatment for adolescents with overweight/obesity. The present qualitative study aims to explore (1) how adolescents experienced participation in APOLO-Teens and (2) how parents perceived adolescents' participation. Sixteen adolescent–parent dyads were interviewed by telephone using semistructured guides. An inductive approach of thematic analysis was used to analyze data by two independent codifiers. The consensus was used to resolve differences in coding/themes, and two independent auditors reviewed the codes and the themes proposed. We identified four themes from adolescents' interviews, namely, expectations, perception of outcomes, participation in the intervention, and sharing of acquired knowledge. From parents' interviews, we identified five themes: expectations for son/daughter participation, perception of adolescents' outcomes, son/daughter participation, parental role, and use of social networks in intervention programs for adolescents. Both elements of the dyad indicated that adolescents' participation in APOLO-Teens contributed to favorable outcomes, further highlighting the use of online interventions to complement the hospital treatment of adolescents with overweight/obesity. Future studies should address the viewpoints of adolescents and parents in the design of Facebook-based interventions, namely, to implement tailored, shorter, less time-demanding interventions that favor engagement between participants and parental involvement., Foundation for Science and Technology, Grant/Award Numbers: 2020.01538.CEECIND, 2020.07384.BD, PTDC/PSI-GER/28209/2017, SFRH/BD/146470/2019

Purpose Athletes who perform combat sports tend to engage in weight-management strategies to fit in a specific weight class that are characterized by disordered eating behaviours. This study aimed to (1) characterize eating behaviours and adaptation to stress regarding an unwanted weight change before a competition; (2) evaluate the differences between athletes who consider unwanted weight changes as a challenge or as a threat in regard to emotions, coping strategies and eating behaviours; and (3) evaluate whether some of these variables related to the unwanted weight change (e.g., emotions, cognitive appraisal of the situation) are predictors of disordered eating behaviours in combat sports. Methods A total of 166 combat sports athletes (75.3% male), aged between 14 and 56 years (M = 22.73; SD = 8.03), filled out a set of questionnaires that evaluated personal variables, cognitive appraisal (threat/challenge), coping, emotions, and eating behaviours related to an unwanted weight change before a competition. Results Most of the athletes (57.3%) reported high levels of stress related to the experience of an unwanted weight change before a competition. Athletes who perceived this experience as more of a threat had significantly more eating concerns, anxiety, dejection, anger, active confrontation and emotional support. Athletes who perceived it as more of a challenge experienced more excitement and happiness. Athletes who perceived a high threat and low challenge experienced significantly increased anxiety levels and athletes who perceived this experience as a low threat and the low challenge had decreased anxiety. The desire to weigh less, the perception of a threat regarding weight changes, the ability to cope with denial, and anxiety emerged as predictors of disordered eating behaviours. Conclusion To prevent or reduce disordered eating behaviours, it is important to promote adequate strategies to deal with weight changes before a competition and, consequently, positive emotions among sports combat athletes., This study was partially conducted at the Psychology Research Centre (PSI/01662), University of Minho, and supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology and the Portuguese Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education through national funds (UID/PSI/01662/2019) and by the following grant to Silvia Felix (CIPSI-BI-PP-2019-04). The funding bodies had no role in the design, collection, analysis, or interpretation of the data; the writing of the manuscript; or the decision to submit the manuscript for publication.

This study aims to characterize the psychosocial impact of COVID-19 lockdown for post-bariatric surgery (>= 36 months) women and its association with disordered eating and psychological distress. The medium to longtime follow up is a period of increased susceptibility for poorer weight outcomes which might be triggered by the lockdown. Twenty-four participants responded to an online questionnaire and a telephone interview. About half (n = 14; 58.3%) reported perceived weight gain during the lockdown, 13 (54.1%) limited access to social support, and 12 (50%) limited access to medical care. Co-habiting with a higher number of persons during lockdown was associated with fewer difficulties in dealing with emotionally activating situations, less fear of gaining weight, less fear of losing control over eating, and less disordered eating. The global perceived psychosocial impact of lockdown was significantly correlated with difficulties in dealing with emotionally activating situations and stress symptoms. Results highlight the need to monitor post-bariatric patients, facilitate health care access, and promote social support during the lockdown period., This study was conducted at the Psychology Research Centre (CIPsi/UM) School of Psychology, University of Minho, supported by the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) through the Portuguese State Budget (UIDB/01662/2020), by grants to Eva Conceicao (IF/01219/2014 and POCI-01-0145-FEDER-028209), and Marta de Lourdes (SFRH/BD/146470/2019). Dr. Machado was supported, in part, by a Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology grant (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-028145). The funding body had no role in the design, collection, analysis, and interpretation of data; the writing of the manuscript; or the decision to submit the manuscript for publication.

The Intuitive Eating Scale-2 (IES-2) has been shown to be a valid tool to assess the capability of eating in reaction to natural hunger/satiety cues. However, its factor structure seems to differ in function of cultural/socioeconomic backgrounds, and its psychometric properties among the adolescents with overweight/obesity (BMI-for-age percentile85th) have not been examined yet. Thus, this study aims to 1) investigating the factorial structure/psychometric properties of IES-2 in adolescents with overweight/obesity; and 2) exploring the associations between impulsivity, quality of life disordered and intuitive eating.A total of 202 Portuguese adolescents (124 girls; 78 boys; 12-19 years) under weight-loss treatment with a mean BMI z-score of 2.41 (SD = 0.75) participated in this study. The IES-2 factor structure was explored by confirmatory factor analysis and bifactor models. Test-retest reliability analyses were performed over 6 months (n = 41) and associations between the variables under study were explored.Confirmatory factor analyses with posthoc modifications resulted in a bifactor model with acceptable fit supporting one general factor (intuitive eating) and three specific factors (IES-2 subscales). The "Unconditional Permission to Eat" subscale could not be replicated in this sample. Test-retest reliability analyses suggested good temporal stability. Intuitive eating scores were negatively associated with grazing eating behavior and impulsivity (negative urgency) and positively linked to quality of life.An adjusted version of IES-2 can be an appropriate measure for assessing intuitive eating levels in adolescents with overweight/obesity. Research on intuitive eating has the potential to enhance pediatric weight-loss interventions.

Background Recent studies suggest that eating habits are an area particularly affected by the lockdown imposed by many countries to curb the COVID-19 epidemic. Individuals that received bariatric surgery may represent a particularly susceptible population to the adverse effects of lockdown for its potential impact on eating, psychological, and weight loss outcomes. Objectives This study seeks to investigate the incremental impact of COVID-19 lockdown on treatment outcomes of postbariatric patients in the risk period for weight regain. Setting Main hospital center. Methods This work uses data from an ongoing longitudinal study of bariatric patients assessed before surgery (T0), 1.5 years after sugery (T1), and 3 years after surgery (T2). Two independent groups were compared: the COVID-19_Group (n = 35) where T0 and T1 assessments were conducted before the pandemic started and T2 assessment was conducted at the end of the mandatory COVID-19 lockdown; and the NonCOVID-19_Group (n = 66), covering patients who completed T0, T1, and T2 assessments before the epidemic began. Assessment included self-report measures for disordered eating, negative urgency, depression, anxiety, stress, and weight outcomes. Results General linear models for repeated measures showed that the COVID-19_Group presented significantly higher weight concern (F = 8.403, P = .005, ƞ2p = .094), grazing behavior (F = 7.166, P = .009, ƞ2p = .076), and negative urgency (F = 4.522, P = .036, ƞ2p = .05) than the NonCOVID-19_Group. The COVID-19_Group also showed less total weight loss (F = 4.029, P = .05, ƞ2p = .04) and larger weight regain at T2, with more COVID-19_Group participants experiencing excessive weight regain (20% versus 4.5%). Conclusion These results show evidence for the impact of the coronavirus outbreak on eating-related psychopathology and weight outcomes in postbariatric surgery patients.

Background: Research on the interplay between mothers' and children's eating behaviors is needed to better inform sensitive and tailored interventions for treatment-seeking children with overweight/obesity. The present study aimed to identify mothers' eating behavior phenotypes, investigating their associations with problematic eating behaviors of children undergoing weight loss treatment in two central hospitals.Methods: This is a cross-sectional study evaluating 136 mother-child dyads (Mothers: age 39.58 +/- 5.40 years; Children: n = 75 female; age 10.13 +/- 1.37 years). Mothers' eating behavior (restraint, emotional, and uncontrolled eating) and depression/anxiety, and children's problematic eating attitudes/behaviors were assessed. A cluster analysis (K-means) was performed using mothers' eating behavior dimensions. Multivariate Analysis of Covariance investigated differences between clusters on mothers' and children's sociodemographic, anthropometric, psychological, and eating-related variables.Results: Three clusters emerged: The Disordered Eatinggroup (n = 39) of mothers with the highest scores on emotional eating and uncontrolled eating dimensions, the Restraint Eatinggroup (n = 48), including mothers scoring high in cognitive restraint, and the Low Disordered Eating(n = 49) group where mothers scored low in all eating behavior dimensions. Children of mothers in the Disordered Eatingcluster had significantly higher emotional overeating relative to children of mothers in the other two clusters.Conclusions: Distinctive eating behavior profiles of mothers, instead of the presence of single eating behaviors, seem to be associated with specific problematic eating behaviors of children undergoing weight loss treatment. Prospective studies are essential to determine whether these profiles can predict differential weight change trajectories in pediatric obesity treatment., This research was partially conducted at the Psychology Research Center (PSI/01662), University of Minho, through support from the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology and the Portuguese Ministry of Science, Technology, and Higher Education (UID/PSI/01662/2019), through the national funds (PIDDAC), by grants to Eva Conceicao (IF/01219/2014 and POCI-01-0145-FEDER-028209), and by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Disease (K23-DK105234) to A.B.G. The funding body had no role in the design, collection, analysis, and interpretation of data; the writing of the article; or the decision to submit the article for publication.

Purpose Grazing is a problematic eating behavior linked with poor weight loss outcomes, disordered eating psychopathology, and psychological distress in the adult population. However, no study assessed this behavior in children. Childhood is an important time frame for the development and maintenance of healthy eating habits, which can be influenced by children's psychological state, eating habits, and parental practices. This study investigates the associations between grazing behavior in children and children's psychological variables (anxiety, depression and withdrawn symptoms, body image dissatisfaction), children eating habits, and parental feeding practices. Methods In this cross-sectional study, 330 primary school students (6-10 years old) and their parents completed measures assessing children's grazing, anxiety/depression and withdrawn symptoms, body image dissatisfaction, children eating habits and style, and parental feeding practices. Results The path analysis tested showed that more restrictive parental feeding practices, inappropriate children eating habits, children's anxiety/depression symptoms, and body image dissatisfaction were associated with increased grazing scores (CMIN = 12.679; DF = 11; p = 0.315; RMSEA = 0.025; CFI = 0.990; NFI = 0.935; TLI = 0.982; IFI = 0.991; SRMR = 0.045). Conclusion Grazing tends to occur in a context of children's psychological distress, inappropriate children eating habits, and restrictive parental feeding practices. These variables should be addressed for the improvement of healthy eating habits and in weight-loss interventions for children., This study was partially conducted at Psychology Research Centre (PSI/01662), University of Minho, and supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology and the Portuguese Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education through national funds, and co-financed by FEDER through COMPETE2020 under the PT2020 Partnership Agreement (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007653), by the following grants to Eva Conceicao (IF/01219/2014 and POCI-010145-FEDER-028209). The funding body had no role in the design, collection, analysis, and interpretation of data; the writing of the manuscript; or the decision to submit the manuscript for publication.

Grazing is a problematic eating behavior linked with poor weight loss outcomes, disordered eating psychopathology, and psychological distress in the adult population. However, no study assessed this behavior in children. Childhood is an important time frame for the development and maintenance of healthy eating habits, which can be influenced by children's psychological state, eating habits, and parental practices. This study investigates the associations between grazing behavior in children and children's psychological variables (anxiety, depression and withdrawn symptoms, body image dissatisfaction), children eating habits, and parental feeding practices.In this cross-sectional study, 330 primary school students (6-10 years old) and their parents completed measures assessing children's grazing, anxiety/depression and withdrawn symptoms, body image dissatisfaction, children eating habits and style, and parental feeding practices.The path analysis tested showed that more restrictive parental feeding practices, inappropriate children eating habits, children's anxiety/depression symptoms, and body image dissatisfaction were associated with increased grazing scores (CMIN = 12.679; DF = 11; p = 0.315; RMSEA = 0.025; CFI = 0.990; NFI = 0.935; TLI = 0.982; IFI = 0.991; SRMR = 0.045).Grazing tends to occur in a context of children's psychological distress, inappropriate children eating habits, and restrictive parental feeding practices. These variables should be addressed for the improvement of healthy eating habits and in weight-loss interventions for children.Level V, cross-sectional descriptive study.