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Exploring the Interaction of Mood States and Food Purchasing Behaviour – Insights from an ESM study

Jetter, Chiara (2025) Exploring the Interaction of Mood States and Food Purchasing Behaviour – Insights from an ESM study.

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Abstract:Food purchasing has a wide impact on our society’s health and our environment and is influenced by psychological factors. This study examined the relationship between mood and food purchasing by employing the approach of an Experience Sampling Method (ESM) which proves to be an ecologically valid method to provide new insights into real-world behaviour. It was hypothesized that a higher combined mood score, indicating higher positive relative to negative mood, would lead to healthier food items bought. Furthermore, it was hypothesized that unhealthy food purchases are linked to a more positive mood, as reflected in a higher combined mood score. The study included 24 participants of mostly female German students. They were asked to fill in a mood questionnaire of six items (a self-adapted version of the Positive and Negative Affect Scale; PANAS-x) and record their food purchases through either a photo diary, or, if unable to do so, through one multiple choice question (Healthy and Unhealthy Eating Behaviour Scale; HUEBS). This design was employed through an app and participants were prompted to answer the questionnaires three times per day for seven days. Multilevel analysis showed that there was no effect of mood on food purchasing items in terms of their healthiness. In the reverse association, there was no effect of the healthy or unhealthy food bought on mood state. This study contributes to the existing research, emphasizing the ESM as approach by using ecologically valid data, going beyond artificial lab settings or retrospective surveys. Since there was no interaction found between mood and food purchasing, it may be that budgetary reasons where a stronger predictor on healthy food purchases than mood.
Item Type:Essay (Bachelor)
Faculty:BMS: Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences
Subject:77 psychology
Programme:Psychology BSc (56604)
Link to this item:https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/106713
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