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Psychological Pathways Through Which Social Norms and Social Identity Influence Eating Behavior: Testing a Conceptual Model

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Abstract

Background

Although interventions frequently promote healthy eating, failing to consider psychosocial factors, such as social norms, may limit the effectiveness of these efforts. Perceived social norms are a well-documented determinant of eating behavior; however, there is limited understanding of the processes through which, and for whom, this relationship emerges. Using identity-based motivation as a theoretical framework, we present a conceptual model identifying one route through which descriptive social norms—beliefs about how others behave—predict eating behavior, and test whether this process varies across social identities (e.g., self-perceived weight status).

Method

Structured telephone interviews were conducted for a national sample of non-diabetic adults who identified as non-Hispanic White, non-Hispanic Black, or Mexican American (n = 990).

Results

Multigroup SEM analysis comparing individuals who self-identified as overweight (versus “about the right weight” and underweight) demonstrated that perceiving descriptive social norms that people do not eat healthy foods predicted greater perceived barriers to eating healthy foods. Perceived barriers, in turn, predicted stronger beliefs that body weight is uncontrollable, and this relationship was stronger for participants who self-identified as overweight (relative to participants who did not identify as overweight). These beliefs subsequently predicted greater self-reported consumption of unhealthy foods (e.g., sweets), but did not predict consumption of fruits or vegetables.

Conclusions

This study extends our understanding of a psychosocial process that predicts consumption of unhealthy foods and underscores the importance of social identities for shaping responses to perceived norms.

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Availability of Data and Materials

Data is available from the corresponding author upon request.

Notes

  1. Although the survey included two additional food categories that are not reported in the main text (fruit drinks and bread-like foods, such as tortillas), we focused our analyses on food categories that have high consensus about being (un)healthy or (un)processed (e.g., although there is high consensus that sweets are unhealthy, there is relatively less consensus regarding the healthiness of bread-like foods) [50].

  2. Although this is a conceptual measure and the single items may not be highly correlated, using the index is a more powerful predictor of the category (i.e., unhealthy foods). Thus, we collapsed across food categories given our interest in unhealthy eating broadly (rather than a specific type of behavior). Analyses measuring each type of food separately are reported in the online supplement.

  3. Although previous research assesses self-perceived weight using these labels, we acknowledge that the term “overweight” is pejorative. However, to maintain consistency with how participants responded to this measure, participants will be described as individuals who (do not) “self-identify as overweight” throughout the paper.

  4. Although perceived barriers were transformed into a count variable, it was not estimated with a Poisson distribution because this distribution cannot be used with negative values (as generated by our standardized variables). Therefore, we tested our model without Poisson distribution to avoid issues with interpretability caused by having both standardized and unstandardized coefficients in the model. Use of the Poisson distribution did not change the reported results, and this model is reported in the online supplement for interested readers.

  5. When completing the survey, some participants volunteered responses, particularly on the eating outcomes, that we retained in the dataset to mitigate a substantial loss of statistical power (e.g., 30% of the sample volunteered a response of “never” in response to drinking regular soda). However, exclusion of these responses showed no significant impact on the pattern of reported results. These analyses are reported in the online supplement (Table S4).

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Funding

This project was funded by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases of the National Institutes of Health under award number R0IDK083347 (to T.E.J.). Additional support was provided by the Michigan Center for Diabetes Translational Research under award number P30DK092926 (to T.E.J.) from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. This publication was made possible with support from the Indiana Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute, which is funded in part by Award Number KL2TR002530 from the National Institutes of Health, National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, Clinical and Translational Sciences Award. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis, 402 N Blackford St., Indianapolis, IN, 46202, USA

    Veronica Derricks

  2. Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

    Veronica Derricks & Allison Earl

  3. Research Center for Group Dynamics, Institute for Social Research, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

    Alicia Giordimaina Carmichael

  4. School of Public Health, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

    Toby E. Jayaratne

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  1. Veronica Derricks
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Correspondence to Veronica Derricks.

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Derricks, V., Earl, A., Carmichael, A.G. et al. Psychological Pathways Through Which Social Norms and Social Identity Influence Eating Behavior: Testing a Conceptual Model. Int.J. Behav. Med. 30, 7–18 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12529-022-10064-y

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