title: Self-reports of eating behavior, goals, imagery, and health status: principal components and sex differences.
abstract: University students (N = 208) completed a questionnaire on four aspects of eating: behavior, goals, imagery, and health status. A principal components analysis of the 18 self-report variables identified six factors: Weight Control Failure, Sensory Awareness of Food and Eating, Stable Eating Pattern, Unrestrained Overeating, "Home Cooking and Good Digestion," and Environmental Indifference. Sex differences in self-reporting were statistically significant on 10 of the 18 variables, with 6 of those significant variables heavily loaded on the first factor: Weight Control Failure. Analysis of these variables suggests that women report eating to be more problematic than do men. Several of the aspects of self-reports are discussed, including the apparent independence of sensory awareness of food and eating from self-reports of behavior, goals, and health status.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001835:Body Weight; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D006040:Goals; D006262:Health; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D007092:Imagination; D008297:Male; D012737:Sex Factors