Emotional eating in overweight, normal weight, and underweight individuals
Introduction
Emotional states can have major effects on eating behavior and result in either overeating or undereating. There have been several reviews of studies concerning emotional eating in relation to body weight Allison & Heshka, 1993, Faith et al., 1997, Ganley, 1989, Van Strien, 1995. These studies have almost always dealt with negative emotions such as depression or fear Abramson & Wunderlich, 1972, Arnow et al., 1995, Blair et al., 1990 and have mainly compared obese and normal-weight subjects Allison & Heshka, 1993, Faith et al., 1997, Fitzgibbon et al., 1993, Plutchik, 1976. The findings have been conflicting, but most indicate relative overeating in obese individuals during negative emotional states Baucom & Aiken, 1981, Lowe & Fisher, 1983, McKenna, 1972, Plutchik, 1976, Ruderman, 1983, Schachter et al., 1968, Slochower et al., 1981. A psychosomatic interpretation has been that eating by obese individuals in response to negative emotions is a learned behavior to reduce the negative state (Kaplan & Kaplan, 1957).
Our objective was to examine a wide array of both negative and positive emotions and situations in relation to not only overweight and normal-weight but also to underweight individuals. Overeating or undereating during these states could predispose a person to becoming overweight or underweight. We predicted that overweight individuals would tend to overeat, whereas underweight individuals would tend to undereat, in response to both positive and negative emotions and situations.
Section snippets
Participants
Questionnaires were distributed in person to small groups of people sitting at tables in several large libraries in New York, including two major university libraries and one major public library. More than 500 questionnaires were distributed, with a refusal rate of less than 10%. Of the 452 collected, we excluded questionnaires from respondents indicating poor health, recent weight loss through dieting, and eating disorders. The remaining 364 questionnaires were stratified by sex, and for each
Results
The main findings are reported for both genders combined because there were only two gender differences: Men, across weight categories, reported significantly more eating than women for positive situations, F=10.4, P=.002, but not for positive emotions. For the underweight group, women reported more undereating than men in negative situations, F=9.0, P=.007, but not for negative emotions.
Mean eating ratings for the combined negative emotions and for the combined positive emotions are shown in
Discussion
When experiencing negative emotional states or situations, overweight individuals reported eating more than normal-weight and underweight individuals. For positive emotional states or situations, the opposite occurred, with the underweight group reporting eating more than the other groups. Thus, part of the hypothesis was confirmed, the relative overeating by the overweight group, and the even more striking undereating by the underweight group during negative emotional states and situations.
References (22)
- et al.
Does emotional eating interfere with success in attempts at weight control?
Appetite
(1990) Obesity, anxiety, and food consumption
Addictive Behaviors
(1983)- et al.
Anxiety, perceived control and eating in obese and normal weight persons
Appetite
(1980) - et al.
The effects of life stress and weight on mood and eating
Appetite
(1981) - et al.
The accuracy of self-reported weights
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition
(1981) - et al.
Anxiety, fear and eating: a test of the psychosomatic concept of obesity
Journal of Abnormal Psychology
(1972) - et al.
Emotion and eating in obesity? A critical analysis
International Journal of Eating Disorders
(1993) - et al.
The emotional eating scale: the development of a measure to assess coping with negative affect by eating
International Journal of Eating Disorders
(1995) - et al.
Effect of depressed mood in eating among obese and nonobese dieting and nondieting persons
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
(1981) - et al.
Emotional eating and obesity
Demand characteristics of the research setting can influence indexes of negative affect-induced eating in obese individuals
Obesity Research
Cited by (277)
Emotional eating – A response to or one of the causes of paranoia-like thoughts? The bidirectional mediating role of avoidant coping
2023, Psychiatry Research CommunicationsDietary changes in an acceptance-based weight loss pilot intervention study
2023, Eating Behaviors