Eating Behavior of Brazilian College Students: Influences of Lifestyle, Negative Affectivity, and Personal Characteristics.

In this study we proposed to estimate the impact of lifestyle, negative affectivity, and college students' personal characteristics on eating behavior. We aimed to verify that negative affectivity moderates the relationship between lifestyle and eating behavior. We assessed eating behaviors of cognitive restraint (CR), uncontrolled eating (UE), and emotional eating (EE)) with the Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire-18. We assessed lifestyle with the Individual Lifestyle Profile, and we assessed negative affectivity with the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale-21. We constructed and tested (at p < .05) a hypothetical causal structural model that considered global (second-order) and specific (first-order) lifestyle components, negative affectivity and sample characteristics for each eating behavior dimension. Participants were 1,109 college students (M age = 20.9, SD = 2.7 years; 65.7% females). We found significant impacts of lifestyle second-order components on negative affectivity (ß = -0.57-0.19; p < 0.001-0.01) in all models. Physical and psychological lifestyle components impacted directly only on CR (ß=-0.32-0.81; p < 0.001). Negative affectivity impacted UE and EE (ß = 0.23-0.30; p < 0.001). For global models, we found no mediation pathways between lifestyle and CR or UE. For specific models, negative affectivity was a mediator between stress management and UE (ß=-0.07; p < 0.001). Negative affectivity also mediated the relationship between thoughts of dropping an undergraduate course and UE and EE (ß = 0.06-0.08; p < 0.001). Participant sex and weight impacted all eating behavior dimensions (ß = 0.08-0.34; p < 0.001-0.01). Age was significant for UE and EE (ß=-0,14- -0.09; p < 0.001-0.01). Economic stratum influenced only CR (ß = 0.08; p = 0.01). In sum, participants' lifestyle, negative emotions and personal characteristics were all relevant for eating behavior assessment.

Strategies for eating and body change among Brazilian women and men.

OBJECTIVES: Our study was conducted to adapt the Body Image and Body Change Inventory (BIBCI) for Portuguese; to evaluate the BIBCI's psychometric properties in samples of university students; to calculate the prevalence of strategies for eating and body change among students; and to evaluate the impact of demographic, social, and anthropometric characteristics on the BIBCI subscales. METHODS: 798 students (women = 63%) answered the Portuguese translation of the BIBCI and answered a demographic questionnaire. All analyses were performed separately for women and men. The BIBCI's psychometric properties were estimated using confirmatory factor analysis. Mean scores were calculated for each BIBCI subscale. A multivariate regression model was tested to evaluate the impact of demographic, social, and anthropometric characteristics on mean BIBCI subscale scores. RESULTS: The psychometric properties of the BIBCI were adequate in the samples analyzed. The BIBCI subscales scores did not differ according to sex. According to the cut-off points adopted, most of the students were classified in the very low category of the BIBCI subscales. For women, characteristics such as self-reported eating assessment, economic class, physical activity level, and work were significant. For men, only physical activity level was significant. CONCLUSION: The Portuguese translation of the BIBCI was presented and its psychometric properties were found to be adequate in the samples analyzed. The models identified significant characteristics that can be used in intervention protocols for preventing inappropriate behaviors in relation to body image and eating.