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Emotional Eating in Adults: The Role of Sociodemographics, Lifestyle Behaviors, and Self-Regulation—Findings from a U.S. National Study

Background: Emotional eating, the tendency to overeat in response to negative emotions, has been linked to weight gain. However, scant evidence exists examining the prevalence and correlates of emotional eating among large samples of adults in the United States (U.S.). Hence, we examine the relation...

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Autores principales: Elran Barak, Roni, Shuval, Kerem, Li, Qing, Oetjen, Reid, Drope, Jeffrey, Yaroch, Amy L., Fennis, Bob M., Harding, Matthew
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7916829/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33670147
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18041744
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author Elran Barak, Roni
Shuval, Kerem
Li, Qing
Oetjen, Reid
Drope, Jeffrey
Yaroch, Amy L.
Fennis, Bob M.
Harding, Matthew
author_facet Elran Barak, Roni
Shuval, Kerem
Li, Qing
Oetjen, Reid
Drope, Jeffrey
Yaroch, Amy L.
Fennis, Bob M.
Harding, Matthew
author_sort Elran Barak, Roni
collection PubMed
description Background: Emotional eating, the tendency to overeat in response to negative emotions, has been linked to weight gain. However, scant evidence exists examining the prevalence and correlates of emotional eating among large samples of adults in the United States (U.S.). Hence, we examine the relationship among individual and socioeconomic factors, health behaviors, and self-regulation with emotional eating patterns among U.S. adults. Methods: Cross-sectional analysis of 5863 Family Health Habits Survey participants. Multivariable, ordered, logistic regression was employed to examine the relationship between the frequency of the desire to eat when emotionally upset (never, rarely, sometimes, often, and very often) and the independent variables. Results: Analysis reveals that 20.5% of the sample tended to emotionally eat often or very often. Being female, non-Hispanic White, and of younger age were all related to a higher likelihood of emotional eating. Additionally, inability to delay gratification (impatience) was related to an 18% increased likelihood (95% confidence interval (CI) 1.05–1.33) for emotional eating. Finally, emotional eating was significantly related to more frequent fast-food consumption. Conclusions: Program planners might need to develop targeted interventions aimed at enhancing emotional regulation skills while addressing these less healthful behaviors (e.g., fast-food intake) with the goal of obesity and chronic disease prevention.
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spelling pubmed-79168292021-03-01 Emotional Eating in Adults: The Role of Sociodemographics, Lifestyle Behaviors, and Self-Regulation—Findings from a U.S. National Study Elran Barak, Roni Shuval, Kerem Li, Qing Oetjen, Reid Drope, Jeffrey Yaroch, Amy L. Fennis, Bob M. Harding, Matthew Int J Environ Res Public Health Article Background: Emotional eating, the tendency to overeat in response to negative emotions, has been linked to weight gain. However, scant evidence exists examining the prevalence and correlates of emotional eating among large samples of adults in the United States (U.S.). Hence, we examine the relationship among individual and socioeconomic factors, health behaviors, and self-regulation with emotional eating patterns among U.S. adults. Methods: Cross-sectional analysis of 5863 Family Health Habits Survey participants. Multivariable, ordered, logistic regression was employed to examine the relationship between the frequency of the desire to eat when emotionally upset (never, rarely, sometimes, often, and very often) and the independent variables. Results: Analysis reveals that 20.5% of the sample tended to emotionally eat often or very often. Being female, non-Hispanic White, and of younger age were all related to a higher likelihood of emotional eating. Additionally, inability to delay gratification (impatience) was related to an 18% increased likelihood (95% confidence interval (CI) 1.05–1.33) for emotional eating. Finally, emotional eating was significantly related to more frequent fast-food consumption. Conclusions: Program planners might need to develop targeted interventions aimed at enhancing emotional regulation skills while addressing these less healthful behaviors (e.g., fast-food intake) with the goal of obesity and chronic disease prevention. MDPI 2021-02-11 2021-02 /pmc/articles/PMC7916829/ /pubmed/33670147 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18041744 Text en © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Elran Barak, Roni
Shuval, Kerem
Li, Qing
Oetjen, Reid
Drope, Jeffrey
Yaroch, Amy L.
Fennis, Bob M.
Harding, Matthew
Emotional Eating in Adults: The Role of Sociodemographics, Lifestyle Behaviors, and Self-Regulation—Findings from a U.S. National Study
title Emotional Eating in Adults: The Role of Sociodemographics, Lifestyle Behaviors, and Self-Regulation—Findings from a U.S. National Study
title_full Emotional Eating in Adults: The Role of Sociodemographics, Lifestyle Behaviors, and Self-Regulation—Findings from a U.S. National Study
title_fullStr Emotional Eating in Adults: The Role of Sociodemographics, Lifestyle Behaviors, and Self-Regulation—Findings from a U.S. National Study
title_full_unstemmed Emotional Eating in Adults: The Role of Sociodemographics, Lifestyle Behaviors, and Self-Regulation—Findings from a U.S. National Study
title_short Emotional Eating in Adults: The Role of Sociodemographics, Lifestyle Behaviors, and Self-Regulation—Findings from a U.S. National Study
title_sort emotional eating in adults: the role of sociodemographics, lifestyle behaviors, and self-regulation—findings from a u.s. national study
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7916829/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33670147
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18041744
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