The Effects of Body Mass Index (BMI) and Eating on Relationship Perceptions

Lisa JaremkaPrevious research provides evidence for the notion that low relationship quality is linked to poor health outcomes. Moreover, research suggests that eating habits, relationships, BMI, and health outcomes are inextricably linked. Specifically, evidence suggests that “comfort foods” can mitigate negative feelings of loneliness by satisfying the need to belong via learned associations between eating and relationships. The current study contributes to this line of research by examining how BMI and eating interact to predict peoples’ feelings about their close relationships in an experimental laboratory setting. Participants, having fasted the night before, were randomly assigned to either drink an Ensure® Original nutritional shake or not and then asked to fill out a series of questionnaires. Consequently, around half of participants had not recently eaten at the time of the questionnaires (‘Did Not Recently Eat’ condition), whereas the other half had just recently eaten (‘Recently Ate’ condition). As hypothesized, the interaction between BMI and the eating manipulation predicted peoples’ relationship perceptions. Specifically, within the ‘Did Not Recently Eat’ condition, people with a higher BMI reported worse relationship quality than those with a lower BMI. However, this effect vanished among those who just consumed a shake: BMI and relationship quality perceptions were unrelated in the ‘Recently Ate’ condition. Implications for learned associations, eating habits, and long-term health outcomes are discussed.Psycholog