The role of emotions in fast food choices of young adults

One of the reasons of higher calorie intake in younger adults is the consumption of food away from home. Emotions have been identified as an important factor influencing food consumption in this age group. A survey and an experiment have been developed to test if there exists the effect of emotions on the amount of calories ordered on an order terminal of a fast food restaurant. Results demonstrate that for the whole sample, none of the factors indicating emotions is significant. For underweight individuals, negative emotions led to an increase in calories ordered. For overweight participants, negative emotions led to a decrease in calories ordered. For the participants in the normal weight group, neither positive nor negative emotions played a significant role in the choice of food options. For overweight individuals order assistant and highlighting choices were most effective method of on-screen communications. We conclude that emotions play an important role in fast food choices of young adults, which is moderated by BMI in a way that negative emotions lead to an increase in calories ordered by underweight participants, while this is the opposite for overweight participants. Acknowledgement : This project was funded by the BMBF