The Roles of Hedonistic Life Perception and Self-Control on Eating Behaviors and Obesity

Aims: Two important variables are thought to play important roles in people’s eating habits: self-control and hedonism. The purpose of the study is to understand how and how much individuals’ eating behaviors are affected by their hedonistic lifestyle and their degree of self-control.

Study Design: Quantitative Online Survey.

Place and Duration of Study: 2021-2022, Turkey.

Methodology: There were 138 participants who took the survey, which contained three different scales and a demographic form. The Hedonistic Eating Scale [6], The Mindful Eating Questionnaire [7], and the Brief Self-Control Scale [8] were the scales used.

Results: BMI and self-control were found to be significantly correlated (r =.410, p =.05). The relationship between BMI and hedonistic eating was significant (r =.493, p =.05). There was a significant correlation between hedonistic eating and self-control (r =.531, p =.05). When a multiple regression analysis was conducted, hedonistic eating and self-control scores predicted the BMI score significantly, F (2,133) = 30.98, p =.000. The R2 =.318 and the adjusted R2 =.309, a medium-size effect reported by the model. Self-control and hedonistic eating were found to predict BMI significantly (F (2,133) = 30.983, p =.000) and to account for 31.8 percent of the variation. Including gender in the model explained an additional 15.2 percent of the variation in BMI, which was found to be significant (F (1,132) = 37.847, p =.000).

Conclusion: All three variables (low self-control, high hedonistic eating, and high body mass index) are significantly and positively correlated. Additionally, it was seen that the strength of these variables differed with gender, even though not drastically.