Preliminary Validation of the Exercise-Snacking Licensing Scale: Rewarding Exercise with Unhealthy Snack Foods and Drinks

Abstract

There is evidence that individuals’ compensatory health beliefs may be an important psychological driver of health behavior. Only recently, however, have researchers begun to develop and seek to validate instruments that are suited to measuring specific pairings of the diverse compensatory health beliefs that exist. The aim of this study was to provide support for key aspects of validity associated with the Exercise-Snacking Licensing Scale (ESLS), an instrument that was designed to assess individuals’ endorsement (or licensing) of unhealthy snacking behaviors around exercise. Participants (N = 1095) responded to a version of the ESLS that was designed to assess their licensing responses following either “light” or “tiring” physical activity, and completed additional instruments assessing dispositional, exercise-related, and diet-related constructs. Analyses indicated that scores derived from both versions of the ESLS (“light” and “tiring” physical activity) displayed a relatively consistent factor structure, favorable alpha coefficients, and meaningful correlations with variables that are theoretically aligned with licensing. Factor analytic procedures did, however, indicate that researchers may wish, in future, to consider the use (or not) of reverse-scored items within the ESLS. Together, these findings provide important insight into the structural, external, and generalizability aspects of validity for scores derived from the ESLS, and indicate that the ESLS may be a valuable instrument for the brief assessment of unhealthy licensing beliefs around exercise. Further use of the ESLS is encouraged to determine if and how these licensing beliefs actually influence subsequent snacking behaviors, and the potential downstream effects these beliefs may have in shaping health outcomes associated with exercise participation.

Attenuation of Post-Exercise Energy Intake Following 12 Weeks of Sprint Interval Training in Men and Women with Overweight

“…Although we did not observe a significant difference in self-reported compensatory eating following the exercise training, we did note a trend for lower exercise snacking licensing post-training across the two groups. The consistency between groups was surprising given that previous work has shown that individuals driven by more autonomous (relative to controlled) motivation may experience lower compensatory licensing beliefs [ 16 ]. How these results related to the reduced snack intake following SIT is unclear at this stage.…”

“…Approximately two weeks prior to commencing training, each participant attended the laboratory for assessment of motivational orientation toward exercise (Behavioural Regulation in Exercise Questionnaire-3) [ 25 ], compensatory eating (Compensatory Eating Motives Questionnaire) [ 26 ], and post-exercise unhealthy snack licensing (Exercise Snacking Licensing Scale) [ 16 ]. Peak oxygen consumption was measured using a continuous graded exercise test on an air-braked front-access cycle, as described previously [ 4 ].…”

“…When primarily governed by external regulation and/or introjected regulation, individuals are considered to possess controlled motivation. Conceptual and empirical work indicates that controlled (as opposed to autonomous) motivation for exercise may be associated with cognitive and physiological factors that increase the desire for hedonically pleasurable and ‘unhealthy’ foods/drinks [ 15 , 16 ]. Additionally, it has been suggested that high-quality motivation for exercise may have a ‘spill-over’ effect on other health behaviors, such as dietary intake [ 17 ].…”

Food consumption values and the influence of physical activity

“…The results reveal that, for SRHI-low, the relationship between epistemic value and consumption of unhealthy food is not significant (p > 0.1), whereas, in SRHI-high, it is significant (p < 0.05) and the coefficient is 0.460. Specifically, although physical activity and its impact on appetite control and food intake are still unknown (Miguet et al, 2018), compensatory behaviour may be observed, and this may be an important psychological factor in healthy behaviour (West et al, 2018). This compensatory eating is defined as an increase in food intake after exercise or physical activity (Stein et al, 2016).…”

Exercise-related factors that influence post-exercise energy intake: A psychological perspective

“…In support of this reasoning, Rabia et al 21 suggested that compensatory health behaviours are more likely to be present when individuals experience controlled motivation. Additionally, West et al 22 found that individuals scored lower on licensing beliefs around unhealthy snacking following exercise when they reported possessing more autonomous motivation for exercise, and that individuals driven by more controlled (relative to autonomous) motivation reported greater compensatory beliefs about food following 40 min of moderate-intensity cycling. 23 The second pathway articulated by Dimmock et al-that of impulsive processes-can be understood through theory and research on self-control.…”