An investigation of the relationship between food addiction and impulsive behavior

Because of the increase in obesity and eating disorders in recent years, the eating problem has become an important issue. The variables that affect eating disorders, obesity, and food addiction have aroused curiosity, and there has been an increase in the number of studies conducted on this subject. Food addiction, which is the starting point of our study, was evaluated in parallel with the symptoms of addiction. It has been observed in literature studies that eating-oriented disorders are similar to the diagnostic criteria for substance abuse. There are studies arguing that the symptoms seen in alcohol-substance addiction and food addiction are similar. Addiction occurs when the substance used stimulates the pleasure zone in the brain. In food addiction, it has been observed that substances rich in sugar, salt, fat and carbohydrates cause activity in the pleasure zone of the brain. Studies show that these substances cause addiction. Food addiction causes physiological, psychological and social problems. In obesity, which is a health problem, the presence of food addiction negatively affects the course of the disease. Impulsivity is characterized by making decisions without thinking, exhibiting risky behaviors, and acting only to achieve satisfaction at the moment without planning the outcome of the behavior. The relationship between impulsive behavior and addiction in individuals has been seen in literature studies, and a relationship has been found between them. Studies investigating the relationship between food addiction and impulsive behavior in the direction of literature studies have remained limited. Recently, more attention has been given to the relationship between food addiction and impulsive behavior. The sample of the study consisted of 298 participants, including individuals over the age of 18 and their relatives. Sample selection was made according to the type of simple-random sample selection. Informed consents of the participants were obtained. The data were collected with a structured questionnaire including sociodemographic information, lifestyle and habits. The findings obtained from the research were made with IBM SPSS version 21.0 (IBM Corp. Released 2012. Armonk, NY, USA) package program. Descriptive statistical methods (number, mean, standard deviation, etc.) were used while evaluating the data. The research data collection process took place between June 2020 - September 2020. The data collection process took approximately 15 minutes for each participant. During the data collection phase of the study, the sociodemographic data form and questionnaires were reached through Google data form-questionnaire, and 298 people were reached and the relevant forms of 3 people were not considered valid because they did not meet the criteria for over 18 years of age. 66.8% of the study group consists of women and 33.2% of them are men, and a total of 295 people were included. This research was conducted using the Yale Food Addiction Scale and the UPSS Impulsive Behavior Scale. According to the results of our research findings; When the correlations between the total symptom score of the "Yale Food Addiction Scale" and the "UPPS Impulsive Behavior Scale" sub-dimension and total scores of the participants were examined; There were statistically significant correlations with the congestion sub-dimension score in a positive direction, a weak-moderate level, a positive and weak correlation with the total scale score, and with both. In our study, the correlations found between the total symptom score of the Yale Food Addiction Scale and the sub-dimensions of pre-design, sensation seeking, and persistence were weak and were not statistically significant. The sample group of our study is limited. Studies on the concept of food addiction, which is open to discussion, are limited, and it is important to conduct future studies with people with food addiction problems in terms of contributing to the literature. The limited study of our research topic in the literature and the lack of sufficient number of studies in our country have revealed that it should be a subject that needs to be examined more carefully. More studies related to psychological variables in our study will contribute to the field of psychology.