Commentary: Questionnaire and behavioral task measures of impulsivity are differentially associated with body mass index: a comprehensive meta-analysis

[摘要] In a recent article, Emery and Levine (in press) report on a meta-analysis examining the relationship between impulsivity measures and body mass index (BMI). They found that impulsivity relates positively, but weakly, to BMI and that behavioral measures of impulsivity produced larger effects than questionnaire measures. Impulsivity domains that assessed disinhibited behaviors, attentional deficits, impulsive decision-making, and cognitive inflexibility produced significant, but small effect sizes. Effect sizes for impulsivity domains related to extraversion/positive emotionality, neuroticism/negative emotionality, and inhibition were not significant. Therefore, these meta-analytic results provide strong support for and are in line with prior observations about the very small correlation between impulsivity and BMI and about the relevance of differentiating between specific impulsivity domains when examining relationships with BMI (Mobbs et al., 2010; Lawyer et al., 2015; Meule and Blechert, 2016; VanderBroek-Stice et al., 2017). This commentary intends to highlight two additional aspects that seem relevant when examining the relationship between impulsivity and BMI. Specifically, it is argued that there are (1) indirect effects of impulsivity on BMI through eating behavior (mediation) and (2) interaction effects between different impulsivity domains or between impulsivity and eating-related constructs on BMI (moderation). Both of these effects cannot be observed by testing single correlations between impulsivity measures and BMI. In addition, both effects can be found even when impulsivity and BMI appear to be uncorrelated at first glance.

[学科分类] 心理学（综合）

[关键词] impulsivity;body mass index;mediation;moderation;moderated mediation