Engagement in vice food and beverage consumption: The role of perceived lack of control

Prior research has established a link between lacking control over one's life, the resulting stress, and the maladaptive outcome of eating disorders. However, such research has left unexamined the exact link among perceptions of control, stress, and unhealthy food choices. This study aims to fill this gap by identifying the exact sequence linking these variables and explaining why stress induced by low control leads to engagement in vice food consumption. Based on self-licensing theory, we predict that a perceived lack of control indirectly prompts people to engage in vice food and beverage consumption, because a lack of control leads to higher personal stress and, consequently, a need to escape through self-indulgence. Across one survey-based study in France and two experiments (in the United States and the United Kingdom), we find consistent support for our hypothesis. The results support the prediction that a perceived lack of control increases the consumption of unhealthy foods and beverages. Specifically, when consumers feel a lack of control over their life, they experience stress, seek an escape from this stress, and end up self-indulging through the consumption of vice food and beverages. For public policy-makers and brand managers, the results suggest that having people perceive more control over their life is of particular importance to staying healthy.