Impulsivity and Consumption of Sweetened Drinks and Snacks Among Adolescents

Introduction: Adolescent obesity is an important public health issue, and a key factor that contributes to the problem is overeating (eating more than required for homeostasis). Appetitive behaviors such as over consumption of sweet and fatty foods may in part result from an inability to control one’s behavior when encountering rewards in the environment. This study investigated the relationship between a lack of controllability or impulsivity and snacking habits.

Methods: The Youth/Adolescent Food Frequency Questionnaire (YAQ) and the Barratt Impulsivity Scale (BIS) were completed by 199 Southern California high school students (56% female; age M=15.8, SD=0.9). Four subscales were calculated from responses on the YAQ and included the frequency of consuming sweetened drinks, sweet snacks, salty snacks, and fresh fruits.  Six impulsivity factors assessed with the BIS included: (a) attention (or not focusing on the task at hand), (b) motor impulsiveness (or acting on the spur of the moment), (c) self-control (or lack of planning or thinking carefully),  (d) cognitive complexity (or dislike of challenging mental tasks), (e) perseverance (or an inconsistent life style), and (f) cognitive instability (or thought insertions and racing thoughts).

Results: Multiple regression analyses were used to determine associations between the YAQ subscales and the impulsivity factors in the BIS after adjusting for age, gender, and SES (mother and father education).  Self-control impulsivity was significantly positively associated with salty snack consumption. Both sweet snacks and drinks were significantly positively correlated with cognitive complexity. Finally, perseverance was positively associated with sweet snacks. Attention, motor impulsivity, and cognitive instability were not associated with the YAQ subscales. Fruit consumption did not significantly correlate with any of the impulsivity factors.

Conclusions: This is the first study of which we are aware that examined the association between snacking behaviors and the first-order factors for impulsivity in the BIS. Increasing our understanding of the processes affecting snacking decisions is key so we can intervene to help adolescents make better food choices. Snacking is likely to be under the control of the adolescent compared, for example, to meals prepared at home by a parent or guardian. As a result, targeting snacking habits with interventions among adolescents may be an effective approach to reducing obesity.