The moderating role of negative urgency on the associations between affect, dietary restraint, and calorie intake: An experimental study

• Experimental data were used to test our hypotheses.
• Negative urgency moderated the effect of dietary restraint on calorie intake.
• Negative urgency did not moderate the effect of negative affect on calorie intake.
• Negative urgency moderated the effect of positive affect on calorie intake.
• Results provide evidence of an integrated model of risk for binge eating behavior.

The present study tested the moderating role of negative urgency (NU), a personality trait characterized by a tendency to act impulsively in the face of emotional distress, on the associations between dietary restraint, affect, and calorie intake following a mood manipulation. Undergraduate women reported levels of NU and dietary restraint and underwent a failure task intended to induce a negative mood. Participants then completed mood ratings and a sham taste assessment task in which calorie intake was measured. NU enhanced the association between dietary restraint and calorie intake, such that participants who reported higher levels of dietary restraint consumed more calories, and this effect was strongest among participants who were high on NU. NU also enhanced the association between positive, but not negative, affect and calorie intake. Specifically, participants who were high on NU and reported lower positive affect consumed more calories than participants who were low on NU. These findings suggest that NU plays a synergistic role in increasing calorie intake among individuals who engage in dietary restraint or experience low positive affect.