Van Tilburg, Wijnand AP and Pekrun, Reinhard and Igou, Eric R (2022) Consumed by Boredom: Food Choice Motivation and Weight Changes during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Behavioral Sciences, 12 (10). p. 366. DOI https://doi.org/10.3390/bs12100366
Van Tilburg, Wijnand AP and Pekrun, Reinhard and Igou, Eric R (2022) Consumed by Boredom: Food Choice Motivation and Weight Changes during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Behavioral Sciences, 12 (10). p. 366. DOI https://doi.org/10.3390/bs12100366
Van Tilburg, Wijnand AP and Pekrun, Reinhard and Igou, Eric R (2022) Consumed by Boredom: Food Choice Motivation and Weight Changes during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Behavioral Sciences, 12 (10). p. 366. DOI https://doi.org/10.3390/bs12100366
Abstract
Boredom is an established cause and correlate of eating behavior. Yet, existing work offers a scattered range of plausible motivations for why this is. We examined among 302 people representative of the adult UK population what motivations they had for selecting food during the COVID-19 pandemic and how this related to boredom. As predicted, bored people choose food less for health reasons and more for convenience. Boredom reduced ethical and ‘natural content’ motivations for selecting food and was not associated with choosing food to regulate one’s mood or to experience unfamiliarity. Boredom was also associated with greater absolute changes in weight over the course of the pandemic. Boredom did not predict weight gains or losses overall. These findings offer insights into the role that boredom plays in eating motivations in particular and health-relevant outcomes in general.
Item Type: | Article |
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Uncontrolled Keywords: | boredom; eating motivation; weight; COVID-19; pandemic; health |
Divisions: | Faculty of Science and Health Faculty of Science and Health > Psychology, Department of |
SWORD Depositor: | Unnamed user with email elements@essex.ac.uk |
Depositing User: | Unnamed user with email elements@essex.ac.uk |
Date Deposited: | 29 Sep 2022 12:54 |
Last Modified: | 30 Oct 2024 20:51 |
URI: | http://repository.essex.ac.uk/id/eprint/33574 |
Available files
Filename: behavsci-12-00366.pdf
Licence: Creative Commons: Attribution 3.0