The Buffering Role of Social Norms for Unhealthy Eating Before, During, and After the Christmas Holidays: A Longitudinal Study

Introduction: The goal of the present study is to test whether social norms, given their power to justify behaviors, can protect the subjective well-being of group members when they engage in unhealthy eating. Method: A three-wave longitudinal study (before [T1], during [T2], and after the Christmas holidays [T3]) was conducted (N = 318). Results: Results demonstrated that changes in pro-unhealthy eating norms play a moderating role in the relationship between changes in unhealthy eating and changes in subjective well-being from T1 to T2, but not from T2 to T3. Specifically, when unhealthy eating increased from T1 to T2, a parallel increase in the strength of social norms buffered against a decrease in group members' subjective well-being. The absence of moderation between T2 and T3 could be due to the fact that pro-unhealthy eating norms became less salient at T3. Discussion: These results confirm that when unhealthy eating is salient in a social context, social norms can buffer against its negative impacts.