Eating Behaviour and Dietary Quality in College Students - Thesis Example

LITERATURE REVIEW INTRODUCTION In the western culture, health-wise and professionally, food is viewed as a basis of nutrients which deliver energy, control body processes and furnish relevant compounds required for growth and care of the human body. The supposition is that people will deliberately choose foods that add to their long term physical well-being by decreasing their threat of chronic disease. There is a slight doubt that a diet well-suited to human biological requirements is necessary to the existence of the species (Clifford & Keeler, 2002). EcSatter is a model developed by Ellyn Satter and is based on her clinical observations of how people do well with eating. Essentially, eating competence explains how normal people eat. It is descriptive in that sense and rigid only for that group who are not comfortable with their current eating or who are concerned about their diet and health, and seek to make a dietary transformation from distorted eating to competent eating (Satter, 2007). Distorted eating mainly arises from disordered eating that involves disturbed eating as well as unhealthy eating patterns. Such kinds of eating include eating habits such as restrictive eating, skipping meals, or even compulsive eating (Heartherton, Nichols & Mahamedi, Keel, 1995). Weight Watchers, which a lot of people hype as the finest of the diet centers because of its dependence on real, unmarked food as well as flexible menu options, does not help people in understanding and knowing about the inner competence on eating. This comes down to the issue of trust against control, according to the nutritionist Ellyn Satter, who takes care of “dieting casualties” in her practice. She reckons that people require learning to believe that they will get filled, even on food they think as highly desirable, and recognize that they can reliably control their own food intake, instead of depending on exterior rules to control those choices. “Weight Watchers is good at easing up food choices, teaching people how to eat carefully, and encouraging them to add to the diversity of food in their diet,” states Satter. “But it is still essentially a control stance they apply” (Satter, 2007, p. 56). When people rely on exterior ruleranges, and diet cops to control their eating, their association to food remains delicate. There are four factors that make up eating competence. One such factor is having a good attitude towards food and eating. This involves enjoying the food and not feeling guilty about the food or the enjoyment. Typically, drives such as hunger and the need to survive as well as appetite and the need to maintain good body health strengthens the desire to eat (Satter, 2007, pg. 153). Another factor entails trying out new things without necessarily fearing any type of food and managing to eat a decent variety. The third factor involves internally regulating how much one eats. This means eating until satisfied, both emotionally and physically. The last factor is ensuring that food is available and that and one has regular meals. It entails giving thought to both nutrition and taste as one selects food. This factor entails the skills and resources required to manage the food context as well as orchestrating all family meals (Satter, 2007, pg.153). In her research, Satter (2007) described the efficiency of Satter eating model as a model that provided the definition for an interconnected continuum of positive eating habits and positive behavior. The model has been based on bio-psychosocial processes such as “hunger and the force to live on, craving and the need for skewed reward and the biological propensity to maintain preferred, stable body weight” (Satter, 2007, p. 64). Satter observed that competent eaters possessed positive attitude towards food. This presentation of ecSatter inventory is supported by Statts and Lohse (2009) in their research. They tested the reliability of ecSatter inventory by self-reported questionnaires distributed among 259 participants, and tested subscale coefficients for contextual skills, food acceptance, and internal regulations. The researchers obtained psychometric evidence about the steadfastness of this model. They stated that although a little revision was required in some items of the model, the model could efficiently be used to measure eating competence. This paper reviews literature that assesses the association of eating competence, and distorted eating to dietary quality. It looks at the various researches and works done in relation to the topic. Typically, the increase of disordered eating has persisted in relation to behaviors and attitudes expressed at an early age. Studies on youthful girls disclose that a range of emotional and physical risk factors forecast later disordered eating. These risk factors include high levels of adverse emotionality, body discontent, and early age of menarche according to Polivy (1996). In addition to emotional and physical factors, it has been advocated that certain situations or cultural climates intensify the risk of eating disorders, mainly in individuals who display the aforesaid risk factors. Some investigators have recognized college as an environmental risk aspect for eating disorder, which is mainly given that prevalence degrees of eating disorders are greater in college students than in other models (Clifford & Keeler, 2002). Some researchers have proposed that the cultural setting of a college may be a major environmental risk influence for the start or exacerbation of disordered eating. LITERATURE REVIEW Outline 1. Eating behavior and dietary quality in colleges students 2. Disordered eating (restraint eating) and poor dietary quality in college students 3. Positive association between eating competence and dietary quality 4. Usefulness of ecSatter model to eating competence Eating Behaviour and Dietary Quality in College Students Clifford et al. (2010) established, in their research, the association between weight, attitudes, and eating competence among college students. In their research, they found out that college students, with a higher eating competence, were concerned with the quality of their diet, eating behavior, internal regulation, food preparation, food acceptance, and meal planning. A sample of 1,720 students was used in the research via an Internet survey, which was based on ecSatter inventory items. The findings obtained indicated a multiple regression in the results. The finding in this case pointed towards the fact that students concerned about their weight, were more competent in eating.Schembre et al. (2009, p. 34) discussed the development and validation of a weight related questionnaire, which reflected to “recent advancement in the assessment and understanding of theory based eating behaviors.” The researchers followed the ecSatter inventory in the development of a new inventory which was intended to measure two constructs of dietary control (custom and compensatory moderation), vulnerability to external cues (external eating) and expressive eating. This showed that the ecSatter inventory has been a basis of all nutritional assessments. Contento et al. (2007) designed a curriculum named choice, control and change, which aimed at motivating students to get involved in improving physical activities so as to gain healthier weight through an improved eating competence level. This curriculum involved a 24-session curriculum that helped students gain knowledge about eating competence. 278 middle school students in 19 science classes from 5 schools were tested in the curriculum. They were found to have improved self-efficacy and personal agency as they became more eating competent. Competent eaters are optimistic, contented, and flexible in terms of eating. College students, who are at a high danger of having chaotic eating behaviors, frequently lack these qualities. They often express negative approaches towards food, and they echo many barriers to scheduling and preparing meals. Clifford and Keeler (2002) conducted an extensive health study that was directed to university students. In addition, it comprised interrogations on EC (ecSatter Inventory), and it also alleged obstacles to healthy eating. The drive of this study was to explore the association between apparent barriers to nutritious eating and eating competence (EC) among college students according to Clifford & Keeler (2002). An aggregate of 1852 respondents were classified as either to be eating competent or hardly eating competent. Independent t-test, samples and logistic regression were used to explore the relationship between EC (Eating Competence) and barriers to healthy eating. More than half (59%) of them were not eating competently. Collective barriers to nutritious eating were nonexistence of time to make healthy foods, lack of finances to acquire healthy foods, stress-free access to unwholesome foods and emotions. The model was found to be statistically meaningful with a Chi-square (9, N=1735=108.64. P=0.01). Motivation to eat nutritious food (p=0.01), understanding to cook nutritious food (p=0.045), time to make healthy food (p=0.001), access to nutritious food (p=0.035), and boredom/sadness/stress (p=0.001) were all meaningfully associated to poor EC. From the results, it was established that meal organization and provision skills, as well as emotional eating uncertainties, may be vital topics to address when trying to effect students’ eating competence. Disordered Eating (Restraint Eating) and Poor Dietary Quality in College Students Essentially, eating is done to sustain life, but this aspect is usually forgotten according to (Satter, pg.143). Eating competence has nevertheless has to do with something about attitudes and behaviors. These behaviors and attitudes ensure that people get fed. For many people especially college students, having constant access to the required variety of nutritious foods are often tremendously unrelenting and complex task (Ellyn, 2007). This brings about the issue of food insecurity among college students, which according to Keys, Brozek & Henschel (1950) leads to healthy problems like obesity. Disordered eating usually arises from restrained eating, which entails the complexity of getting fed. This may be difficult to achieve especially regarding college students who have their eating habits constrained by both finances and peer influence. Leads to distorted eating among college students usually arise from the failure to have positive attitudes about eating (Tolliver & Shupe, 2012). Some adults, including college students fail an understanding about the importance of liking and enjoying a variety of food, mainly from the available food supplies (Ellyn, 2007). This aspect depicts the lack of eating competence among college students. Poor dietary quality among college students is still another major problem. This entails having access to the right nutritional food at the required quality. Some college students lack the mechanisms for having to eat the correct amount of food in the right nutritional content in order to sustain their lives and maintain good health such as a reasonable body mass (Satter, pg.144). All the above mentioned factors contribute to the issues affecting eating competence among college students (Clifford & Keeler, 2002). To confirm the above clams, independent t-test, samples and logistic regression were used to explore the relationship between EC (Eating Competence) and barriers to healthy eating. More than half (59%) of the respondents were not eating competently. Collective barriers to nutritious eating were nonexistence of time to make healthy foods, lack of finances to acquire healthy foods, stress-free access to unwholesome foods, and emotions. The model was found to be statistically meaningful; Chi-square (9, N=1735=108.64. P=0.01). Motivation to eat nutritious food (p=0.01), understanding to cook nutritious food (p=0.045), time to make healthy food (p=0.001), access to nutritious food (p=0.035), and boredom/sadness/stress (p=0.001) were all meaningfully associated to poor EC. From the results, meal organization and provision skills, as well as emotional eating uncertainties, may be vital topics to address when trying to effect students’ eating competence. Disordered Eating (Restraint Eating) and Poor Dietary Quality in College Students The increase of disordered eating has persisted in relation to behaviours and attitudes expressed at an early age. Studies of youthful girls disclose that a range of emotional and physical risk factors forecast later disordered eating. They include high levels of adverse emotionality, body discontent, and early age of menarche. In addition to emotional and physical factors, it has been advocated that certain situations or cultural climates intensify the risk of eating disorders, mainly in individuals who display the aforesaid risk factors. Some investigators have recognized college as an environmental risk aspect for eating disorder. This is mainly so because prevalence degrees of eating disorders are greater in college students than in other models. Some researchers have proposed that the cultural setting of a college may be a major environmental risk influence for the start or exacerbation of disordered eating. College is diligently associated with high altitudes of stress, achievement alignment, and the role and personality deviations, factors that are relates of disordered eating as seen in the work of Clifford & Keeler (2002). Although exact occurrence rates fluctuate, college students have remarkably high rates of body discontentment, dieting, and challenging eating. One study conveyed that nearly 80% of women diet and 50% spree eat in their first year at college. Evidence that, disordered eating may top in college was found in an earlier study conducted by Joiner et al. (1997) who contrasted eating and dieting forms among women and men when they were in college and over 10 years well ahead. Among women, bulk and body discontent were found to be considerably higher in college than once out of college (while the contrary was true for men), with the proportion of women wanting to lose weight reducing from 82% during college to 68% after college. It is proposed that the effect of social roles and peer anticipations in college have a harmful effect on the eating actions of young women, and resolved that some amount of disordered consumption may be normative in school women. According to a study conducted by Heartherton et al. (1995), it was depicted that the transition to college does not significantly change eating habits. However, it was found that women’s body’s self-sensitivities vary from high school to college. Compared to high school, other women in college characterized them as overweight and conveyed greater body dissatisfaction. Although variations in self-perceptions should be deliberated in the context of a small weight gain since high school to college, most of the respondents were not overweight, conferring to national standards. Despite substantial changes in weight, self-categorization, and body discontent, major changes in EDI Drive for Slenderness and Bulimia. Subscale notches were not found in dieting activities or eating disorder grouping. Moreover, although the facts that those participants increased in some weight after high school to college and supposed they were weightier, there was a slight drop in frequency of dieting. It is particularly notable that arrangement of eating disorder status exhibited no change from high school to college, given the important changes in self-perceptions and body discontent and that most of the women at both assessments stated that they coveted to lose weight. This study is nevertheless limited by its dependence on self-reports. Although self-report surveys are the most corporate method of investigating sensitive issues such as disordered eating behaviours, they have been assessed on several levels, including the effect of extraneous factors. In addition, while disordered eating classifications were based on principles for bulimia nervosa in the Analytic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, and they have been presented to be a reliable pointer of bulimic symptomatology, they are not identified on the basis of clinical consultations (Polivy, 1996). Nonetheless, consultations are not credible for assessing variation in a large unit moving after high school to college. Furthermore, the goal was to evaluate a broad range of eating forms, an objective best attained using a survey set-up. Positive Association between Eating Competence and dietary quality to healthy living A research was conducted by Psotta et al. (2007) to determine the relationship between eating competence and biomarkers of risk for cardiovascular disease. The researchers conducted a two way clinical trial on 48 hypercholesterolemia men and women between twenty-one to seventy years of age, in an outpatient clinical research Centre. From the findings, a manifold association between eating competence and CVD was identified. It was found that eating competence wasdirectly proportional to systolic and diastolic blood pressure. Lohse et al. (2010) conducted a similar research in which they sought to establish the association between eating competence and CVD risk profiles of Spanish participants. A cross sectional survey on 638 Spanish PREDIMED participants was carried out, the use of questionnaires, to evaluate their eating behavior. In their findings, the authors, with the ecSatter inventory as a guide, identified a relationship between eating competence, and reduced weight dissatisfaction, lower BMI, and increased HDL-cholesterol. Usefulness of ecSatter Model and Eating Competence For most people, eating represents trouble. People feel guilty when they eat what they should not eat and deprived when they eat what they should eat. The main worry is weight to body mass, which can be maintained by having the right amount of food in the correct nutritional value (Satter, pg.144). Research has shown that when the joy of eating goes out of eating, nutrition suffers. In ecSatter eating competence model, people are encouraged to feel positive about their eating, to be reliable about feeding themselves, and to eat the food they enjoy. Moreover, people are advised to eat sufficiently so that they can feel contented, and to let the body weigh what it will, depending on one’s lifestyle and genetic endowment. Instead of being expected to manage to eat by rules, ecSatter advises people to base their eating on the body’s natural processes: starvation and the drive to survive, appetite and the need for enjoyment, social remuneration of sharing food, and the tendency to sustain preferred as well as balanced body weight. Studies have shown that people who are competent in eating are better nourished, have better body weights and have elevated HDLs and lower triglycerides and blood stress. Surprisingly, they are also healthier psychologically and socially (Polivy, 1996). People with elevated eating competence feel more effectual. They are more self-conscious, more confidence as well as more comfortable both with themselves and the community (Polivy, 1996). The intention is to help the nutritionist educator in preparing educational resources and carrying out programming consistent with the ethics of the ecSatter eating Competence Model. The model does not try to inspire clients and tempt them to act in a certain way. On the contrary, it regards healthy consumption to be a shared value in the hope that the clients will feel more educated and grow with the new understanding. EcSatter is a trust based model that is predicted on the usefulness and effectualness psychosocial practices: hunger and the force to stay alive; appetitive and the requirement for bio pleasure (Satter, 143); the societal reward of allocating food; the natural tendency to maintain favourite and steady body mass. Enjoyment, relaxation, acceptance and comfort are essential parts of the ecSatter and sustain the development of enduring eating lifestyles that are constant and satisfying. Whereas ecSatter does not tackle what and how much to eat, individuals who are ingestion competent have diets of elevated dietary quality. These four aspects are clarified in terms of the four key attitudes of ecSatter eating, which include a positive attitude in both food and eating; responsive attunement to the inner and the outer food experiences; relaxed self-trust about managing both food and eating; and harmony among food desires, choices of food, and the amounts eaten (Satter, pg.144). The diet field is in evolution from the control and regulatory based advances of the conventional form to the ecSatter conviction based form. Control found that messages may sneak into your programming in spite of your cautious study, theoretical commitment ecSatter and genuine desire to generate trust based resources. The sinister nature of managing messages presents a severe difficulty as this distorts and weakens the efficiency of ecSatter. The majority find that regulatory food assortment messages are so intensely fixed in their opinion that those messages appear to be the only probable way of nourishment education. In reality, when thinking in terms of the trust model, there is much to recommend in respect to assisting individuals in finding innovative and individualised answers to their food organization and child feeding disputes. Satter (pg.146) presents various evidences supporting the model and food acceptance. EcSatter is trustworthy with respect to the approach towards, and association with, the individual. The conventional control advance is to advise individuals on what they should eat, the quantity of food, and what they have to weigh. The control approach is that people must be encouraged to do the correct thing with food choice and weight management. For example, preference for high-caloric-density foods happens to be a natural coping response whenever there is food scarcity (Satter, pg.146). In the contrary, the trust model lets one tender services, attract clients to labour with, motivate them to recognize their food linked conundrums, link with them in discovering solutions, and realize those solutions as possibilities. The trust approach is that eating healthfully and acting conscientiously with respect to body heaviness are mutual values with the client and the nutritionist, and that development is intrinsic in the ecSatter form. Clients work on their own in getting themselves along as they work together with the nutritionist in discovering their own realistic and satisfying ways of controlling, eating as well as food (Content et al., 2007). For adults, eating competence is based on the approach and behavior that guarantee getting nourished. The main concern with ecSatter is improving and dignifying the significance of eating by making it optimistic, intrinsically gratifying and joyful. Eating competence is defined by ecSatter as being optimistic, flexible and comfortable. Eating is also being factual and dependable about getting sufficient to eat of pleasant and nourishing foodstuff. EcSatter believes in the powerful and consistent tendency to eat rewarding amounts of satisfying food, and stable body mass that is in custody with the person’s genetic endowment and life. The inventory draws an inclusive description of the unified spectrum of the eating approach and actions. It is described by ecSatter that competent eaters such as those that 1) have affirmative attitudes on eating and food; 2) possess food approval skills that bear eating an ever rising variety of the accessible food; 3) have interior regulation abilities that allow instinctively consuming adequate food to provide energy and endurance and stable body heaviness; 4) and have abilities and wealth for controlling the food perspective and arranging family meals. Work Cited Clifford, D., & Keeler, A. The relationship of perceived barriers to healthy eating and eating competence on a college campus. CA: California State University.2002. Print. Content, I., Calabrese-Barton, A., Koch, A., Lee, H., & Sauberi, W. Enhancing personal agency and competence in eating and moving: Formative evaluation of a middle school curriculum choice and change. JNutr Educ Behav, Vol.39 No.5, 179–86.2007. Print. Heartherton, F., Nichols, P., Mahamedi, F., & Keel, P. Body weight, dieting, and eating disorder symptoms among college students, 1982 to 1992. American Journal of Psychiatry, Vol. 152, pp.1623–1629.1995. Print. Joiner, T., Heatherton, D., Rudd, D., & Schmidt, B. Perfectionism, perceived weight status, and bulimic symptoms: Two studies testing a diathesis-stress modelJournal of Abnormal Psychology, Vol. 106, No.1, 145–153.1997. Print. Keys, A., Brozek, J., &Henschel, A., Food-insecurity contributes to obesity among Colorado children and pregnant women. Minnesota: Univ. of Minnesota Press.1950. Print. Krall, J., & Lohse, B. Interviews with low-income Pennsylvanians verify a need to enhance eating competence. Journal of the American Dietetic Association, Vol. 109, No.3, 476–473.2009. Print. Lohse, B., Psota, T., & Estruch, R. Eating competence of elderly Spanish adults is associated with a healthy diet and a favourable cardiovascular disease risk profile. J. Nutr., Vol.140, No.7, 1322–1327. 2010. Print. Polivy, J. Psychological consequences of food restriction Am Diet Assoc, Vol.96, No.6, 589–92. 1996. Print. Posta, T., Lose, B., &West, S. Associations between eating competence and cardiovascular disease biomarkers. J Nutr Educ Behav., 39 (suppl), 171–178.2007. Print. Satter, M. Eating competence: Definition and evidence for the Satter Eating Competence Model. J Nutr Educ Behav, Vol. 39 (suppl), 142–153.2007. Print. Satter, Ellyn. "Review Article-Eating Competence: Definition and Evidence for Satter Eating Competence Model." J. Nutr Behav, Vol. 39 (2007): 147-153. Satter, M. Nutrition education with the Satter Eating Competence Model. J Nutr Educ Behav, 39 (suppl), 189–194.2007. Print. Schembre, S., Greene, G., &Melanson, K. Development and validation of a weight-related eating questionnaire. Eat Behav.Vol.10, No.2, 119–24.2009. Print. Tolliver, R., & Shupe, A. The biology of human starvation. Health watch, Vol.86, 1–7.2012. Print. Stats K. J., and Lohse B. Interviews with low-income Pennsylvanians verify a need to enhance eating competence. J Am Diet Assoc,Vol.109, No.3, 468–73.2009. Print. Read More