Food-related personality traits, food choice motives and food intake: Mediator and moderator relationships

We investigated the relationship between food-related personality traits, specific food choice motives and food intake. Typically, it is assumed that motives mediate the effect of traits on food intake. Motives may also have different effects on food intake, depending on trait level (moderation). Undergraduate students (N = 324) completed the Food Involvement Scale and the Food Neophobia Scale measuring traits, and the Food Choice Questionnaire measuring specific motives. Daily food intake was assessed with a food frequency questionnaire two weeks later. General dietary healthfulness was based on its concordance with official recommendations. Regression analyses tested mediator and moderator relationships for each trait separately. The results partially support the mediation hypothesis: motives, such as Sensory Appeal and Health, mediated the effect of food involvement on intake of specific food categories. In addition, the relation of motives with both food intake and dietary healthfulness appeared to vary with level of food involvement or food neophobia (moderation). Implications to promote eating healthy food are discussed. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.