Eating for Two

Those trying to curb their food intake may want to reconsider their choices in dining partners.

A new study published this month by the Journal of Applied Social Psychology found that men eat more around women than they do around other men. Women, meanwhile, ate less around men than they did in the company of other women.

The study sampled 127 college student for a one-week period, mainly during the hours of lunch and dinner. Its findings suggest that unconscious scripts about how to eat are at work when people sit down to a meal with someone of either sex.

For example, when women ate with other women, they ordered on average 833 calories; but when they ate with men, they purchased only 721 calories.

Though these findings are in line with cultural expectations, the results for the study's male students are considerably more surprising. Researchers Molly Allen-O'Donnell and Marci Cottingham found that when men sat with other men, they ordered on average only 952 calories, but when they sat with women they ordered 1162 calories.

Allen-O'Donnell and Cottingham conjecture that this unexpected finding could mean that men purchase more calories in the company of women as a way to assert their masculinity. In fact, prior research supports this theory, concluding that smaller meals convey feminine impressions while larger meals communicate masculinity.

In the discussion section of their study, Allen-O'Donnell and Cottingham note that these finding have important implications when it comes to addressing eating disorders among young people, as well as the increase in obesity among both children and adults in the United States. They write:

Those who are trying to address these concerns should consider the importance of the role of gender and social context in developing solutions and meeting needs. Providing strictly nutritional information is not sufficient in helping individuals, families, schools, and society address these issues.

I'm not sure what these solutions would consist of (fewer dinner dates for men? more dinner dates for women?), but it's interesting to consider the influence of gender on our eating habits. And any information that helps us to be more deliberate in our eating decisions is certainly welcome.