Research

Eating disorder treatments and weight loss interventions demonstrate moderate long-term outcomes and relatively high relapse rates, underscoring the importance of identifying novel treatment targets. I am focused on interoceptive awareness of hunger and satiety cues, as well as food craving, and how these self-reported experiences may map onto biological processes, such as blood glucose levels, which may offer novel treatment targets. 

My work on the role of hunger and satiety cues in weight-related behaviors has received partial funding support from the Helmsley Charitable Trust, Dexcom, Inc., and the USF Foundation, and also received an outstanding statistical methodology award at the 2018 Society for Pediatric Psychology Annual Conference.

My food craving research is conducted in collaboration with Robert Schlauch., Ph.D., and is based in the Ambivalence Model of Craving (Breiner et al., 1999) from the alcohol use literature. One major product of this work is the the Food Approach and Avoidance Questionnaire.

Social influences are supported as important risk and maintenance factors of adolescents’ and young adults’ weight-related behaviors across the weight spectrum. My work investigates how the intersection of individual factors and the social context influence weight-related behaviors. This work primarily is based in social comparison theory, though my work also spans peer socialization, social norms, and objectification models. 

Colloquially termed "drunkorexia," food and alcohol disturbance (FAD; Choquette, Rancourt, & Thompson, 2018) is the use of disordered eating behaviors to either 1) get drunker faster or 2) compensate for alcohol-related calories.  This is a relatively new phenomenon and little is known about the etiology, consequences, or trajectory of this constellation of behaviors. My work in this area is focused improving the precision of FAD measurement, identifying those at high risk for FAD, and understanding the consequences of FAD.

We are collaborating with Alison Looby, Ph.D., and her student, Katherine Berry, at the University of Wyoming on a systematic review of FAD research.

Updated information on the psychometrics of the Compensatory Eating Behaviors Related to Alcohol Consumption (CEBRACS) is available to researchers here.

Trans-Ancestry Genomic Analysis of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

We are excited to be collaborating with Eric Storch, Ph.D., and Baylor College of Medicine on an NIH-funded international study investigating how genes influence the risk of developing obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) in Latin American individuals.

ADAPT+: Optimizing an Intervention to Promote Health Behaviors in Rural, Latino Youth with Obesity and Their Parents, Using Mindfulness Strategies

This NCCIH-funded project aims to 1) refine and optimize and 2) test the feasibility of the multi-family behavioral obesity intervention Adaptando Dieta y Accion Para Todos (ADAPT) with a mindfulness parent stress reduction component for rural Latino youth with obesity (MPIs: Marilyn Stern, Ph.D., and Laura Redwine, Ph.D). 

Social, Ethical, and Behavioral Implications (SEBI) Research on COVID-19 Testing and Vaccine Update among Rural Latino Migrants in Southwest Florida

This NCCIH-funded projects aims to use qualitative and quantitative methods to identify multilevel barriers that affect COVID-19 testing and vaccine update at individual, interpersonal, institutional (e.g., health care systems), and community levels. We are partnering with Hispanic Services Council to conduct this research with the rural Latino migrant and immigrant communities in southwest Florida (MPIs: Laura Redwine, Ph.D., and Marilyn Stern, Ph.D.).

Tampa General Hospital-USF Bariatric Clinic

We have a long-standing collaboration with the TGH-USF Bariatric Clinic investigating disordered eating behaviors among adolescents seeking bariatric surgery. We also are interested in parent versus adolescent responsibility for weight-related behaviors and how weight bias internalization may be associated with dual status of being a bully and a victim in this population.

Rogers Behavioral Health - Tampa

We have been collecting food craving and eating disorder symptoms data from adolescents and young adults seeking eating disorder treatment at RBH for the past 5 years, with the goal of understanding how eating disorder treatment may impact approach and avoidance food craving, and how approach and avoidance food craving may be associated with different constellations of disordered eating behaviors.