Food Choice 59Research has also addressed the role of dietary restraint (see chapter 7).
For example, Cools, Schotte, and McNally (1992) reported that stress was
related to increased eating in dieters only, and similar results have been
reported following a naturalistic study of work stress (Wardle et al., 2000).
Therefore, gender and levels of dieting seem to be important predictors of
a link between stress and eating. The research, however, is not always con-
sistent with this suggestion. For example, Conner, Fitter, and Fletcher (1999)
examined the link between daily hassles and snacking in 60 students who
completed diaries for 7 consecutive days. The results showed a direct associa-
tion between increased daily hassles and increased snacking, but showed
no differences according to either gender or dieting. Similarly, Oliver, Wardle,
and Gibson (2000) reported no impact of dietary restraint on stress-induced
eating but indicated a role for emotional eating, with emotional eaters
eating more following experimentally induced stress. Lowe and Kral (2006)
further analyzed the relationship between stress and eating and the role of
dietary restraint, and argued that as none of the findings are consistent or
robust it may be that restrained eating is unrelated to eating when a
person is stressed but that dietary restraint is just a proxy measure for some
other underlying factor, which may reflect a vulnerability to gain weight
when in stressful situations. The individual differences model therefore
emphasizes aspects of the person in determining whether food intake
increases or decreases following a stressor. A study by Wallis and Hetherington
(2009) highlights the role for another variable: the type and variety of foods
available. In their study, restrained eaters ate less after being stressed in line
with some of the studies described above; however, this was associated only
with low-fat snacks, not high-fat snacks.
Research, therefore, indicates that stress can sometimes increase food
intake, although this relationship varies according to a number of different
variables. Stress is a form of arousal and therefore indicates that when a
person is aroused, food intake can change. From a slightly different
perspective, recent research has explored the notion of mindless eating.
Mindless eatingdescribes food intake that occurs when the individual is
focusing on something else other than their food and can occur whilst
walking along the street, waiting for the bus, or watching the television or
a film. Some research has explored this phenomenon and indicates that
people eat more and meals last longer when they are listening to music
(Stroebele and de Castro, 2006) and that those who eat their lunch whilst
watching the TV snack more when offered biscuits in the afternoon
(Higgs and Woodward, 2009). Boon et al. (2002) explored the impact of