title: Navigating the obesogenic environment: how psychological sensitivity to the food environment and self-regulatory competence are associated with adolescent unhealthy snacking.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Living in an obesogenic environment may not affect all adolescents to the same extent, depending on their psychological sensitivity to the food environment and their self-regulatory competence. The purpose of the current study was to examine associations of these two factors with unhealthy snacking among adolescents. We also investigated whether self-regulatory competence could attenuate the negative effects of being sensitive to the food environment.
  
  
  METHODS
  A survey was completed by 11,392 European adolescents (10-17years old). The survey measured psychological sensitivity to the food environment, self-regulatory competence and self-reported unhealthy snack intake.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Higher food environment sensitivity and lower self-regulatory competence were associated with more unhealthy snacking. The two factors also interacted, with self-regulatory competence attenuating the influence of high food environment sensitivity.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Adolescents who are sensitive to the food environment reported higher unhealthy snack intake. More frequent use of self-regulation strategies on the other hand was associated with lower unhealthy snack intake. Moreover, self-regulatory competence was found to moderate the influence of psychological sensitivity to the food environment on unhealthy snacking, although the effect size was small. Fostering adolescents' self-regulatory competence can help enable them to better navigate the obesogenic environment.
authors.affiliation: Clinical and Health Psychology, Utrecht University, The Netherlands; Psychological Assessment and Health Psychology, University of Konstanz, Germany. Electronic address: F.M.Stok@uu.nl.
authors.forename: F Marijn
authors.initials: FM
authors.lastname: Stok
authors.affiliation: Communication, Philosophy and Technology, Centre for Integrative Development, Wageningen University and Research Centre, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Emely
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: De Vet
authors.affiliation: Health Behaviour Research Centre, Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University College London, UK.
authors.forename: Jane
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wardle
authors.affiliation: Health Behaviour Research Centre, Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University College London, UK; School of Health Sciences, City University London, UK.
authors.forename: Maria T
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Chu
authors.affiliation: National Centre in HIV Social Research, University of New South Wales, Australia.
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: De Wit
authors.affiliation: Clinical and Health Psychology, Utrecht University, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Denise T D
authors.initials: DT
authors.lastname: De Ridder
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D004777:Environment; D005260:Female; D005502:Food; D015438:Health Behavior; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology; D057566:Self Report; D000068356:Self-Control / Q000523:psychology*; D062410:Snacks / Q000523:psychology*
keywords: Adolescence; Eating behavior; Obesogenic environment; Power of food; Self-regulation; Snacking