Date of Graduation

2003

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Type

MA

Committee Chair

Kevin Larkin

Committee Chair

Kevin Larkin

Abstract

The current study examined the relation between dietary restraint and caloric preload in thought suppression attempts. The impact of restraint status, suppression instructions, and a high calorie preload were examined among a sample of 64 college females classified as either restrained or unrestrained eaters. Participants engaged in a 60-minute laboratory activity; half of the participants were preloaded and all participants were randomly assigned to a food- and eatingrelated thought suppression condition or an expression control group. Difficulty of suppression and frequency of foods and eating-related thoughts were examined. Restrained participants instructed to suppress demonstrated significantly more food- and eating-related thoughts. Additionally, preload increased the frequency of indirect mentions to food and eating. Clinical implications and directions for future study are discussed.

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