The relationship between age, gender, and hedonic hunger
Abstract
Hedonic hunger is the subjective feelings and urges of hunger in
periods of prolonged food deprivation. The purpose of this study was
to determine if hedonic eating changes throughout the lifecycle and if
there are differences between men and women. Subjects included 316
participants (200 females and 116 males) from Western Wisconsin. The
three factor Power of Food Scale was used to assess an aggregated hedonic
eating score as well as a score for each of the factors: Factor 1 "food
available," Factor 2 "food present," and Factor 3 "food tasted." The results
indicated that the aggregated hedonic eating score was significantly (P
< 0.05) lower in the 62+ age group (M=2.30, SD=0.76) when compared
to the 18-28 year old group (M=2.67, SD=0.84). Additionally, there was
a significant difference between the 62+ age group and the 18-28 year
old group when comparing the food available scores (M=1.98, SD=0.93
vs. M=2.37, SD=0.98) and the food present score (M=2.57, SD=1.01
vs. M=3.06, SD=1.05). There were no significant differences in the age
groups for the food-tasted factor. Lastly, results indicated that hedonic
eating is more prevalent in women when compared to men. In conclusion,
younger people and women had a higher likelihood of hedonic eating.
Additional research is needed to determine the reason why younger
people as well as women have a higher prevalence of hedonic eating
Subject
Power of Food Scale
Food intake
Hedonic hunger