Relationship between Eating Behaviors, Motivation and Peer Pressure

Introduction: A balanced diet and healthy eating habits are universal health guidelines. However, dietary regulation is not easy as confirmed by the continuous increase of dysfunctional eating habits (e.g., binge eating). Recent studies (Ryan, Deci, 2017) highlighted how the interaction between contextual and motivational factors has a fundamental role for the promotion of healthy eating habits (Barberis, et al., 2018). In accordance with SDT (Ryan, Deci, 2017), the social pressure, as peers, pushes individuals to perform actions in a non-self-determined way, through a controlling motivation with negative effects on health; on the contrary, autonomous motivation favors the maintenance of healthy behaviors and promotes well-being. The aim of this study is to evaluate the contribution of peer pressure and motivational regulation of eating behaviors, on the development of eating behaviors habits and binge eating. Method: We consecutively recruited 588 young-adults (40% males and 60% females), aged from 18 to 24 years (M = 20.56, DS = 1.78), who completed the Peer Pressure, Popularity, and Conformity (Santor, et al., 1999), the Regulation of Eating Behavior Scale (Pelletier, et al., 2004), the Healthy Eating Behavior Scale (Pelletier et al., 2004), and the Binge Eating Scale (Gormally, et al., 1982). Results: Path analysis was conducted to test a model with peer pressure as predictor variable, autonomous motivation and controlled motivation as mediators, “Foods that should be eaten with moderation” (FM), “Healthy foods” (HF) and binge eating as outcomes. Results indicated that the data fit the final model, χ2(3) = 5.04; p = .16, CFI = .99, RMSEA = .03 (90% CI = .00 – .08). Our findings showed a significant path from autonomous motivation to “Foods that should be eaten with moderation” (β = -.40), “Healthy foods” (β = .60), and binge eating (β = -.15). Furthermore, there was a significant path from controlled motivation to “Healthy foods” (β = -.09) and binge eating (β = .31). Moreover peer pressure was negatively related to autonomous motivation (β = -.13), and positively related to controlled motivation (β = .16) and binge eating (β = .12). Discussion: These results showed the importance of the contextual and motivational factors in the development of eating behaviors, suggesting relevant practical implications