Exploring the "weight" of food cravings and thought suppression among Cuban adults.
OBJECTIVE
The current study aimed to analyze individual differences on food cravings, intrusive-related thoughts and its suppression between normal weight and overweight/obese Cuban adults.


METHODS
Participants were 1,184 individuals from general population, aged between 18 and 64 years (M = 32.89; SD = 12.87), with 69.1 % females. All participants answered a set of questionnaires and provided demographic, anthropometric and clinical data.


RESULTS
Overweight/obese individuals had higher mean scores than normal weight individuals on food cravings (including its nine dimensions) and food and body weight/shape thought suppression. Large effect sizes were found for body weight/shape thoughts suppression and lack of control over eating, where overweight and obese individuals showed the highest scores. This trend was also found for food thoughts suppression, food cravings trait, cue-dependent eating, preoccupation with food and guilty feelings, with effect sizes from medium to large. Finally, medium effect sizes were observed for intention to eat and negative affect.


CONCLUSIONS
Overweight/obese individuals experienced more food cravings and food and body weight/shape thought suppression than normal weight individuals among Cuban adults.
Department of Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, Central University "Marta Abreu" of Las Villas (UCLV), Carretera a Camajuaní Km 5½, 54830, Santa Clara, Cuba, borisc@uclv.edu.cu.
Boris C
BC
Rodríguez-Martín
Patricia
P
Gil-Pérez
Irvin
I
Pérez-Morales
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001835:Body Weight; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D066249:Craving; D003462:Cuba; D003463:Cues; D005247:Feeding Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D005502:Food; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009765:Obesity / Q000523:psychology*; D050177:Overweight / Q000523:psychology; D012054:Reinforcement, Psychology; D012094:Repression, Psychology; D013850:Thinking; D055815:Young Adult