The role of coping in emotional eating and the use of music for discharge when feeling stressed

Emotional Eating in College Students: Associations with Coping and Healthy Eating Motivators and Barriers

BACKGROUND

Emotional eating, or eating in response to stress and other negative affective states, bears negative consequences including excessive weight gain and heightened risk of binge eating disorder. Responding to stress with emotional eating is not universal, and it is important to elucidate under what circumstances and by what mechanisms stress is associated with emotional eating. This is particularly important to understand among college students, who are at risk of experiencing heightened stress and negative changes to dietary habits.

METHOD

The present study investigated the relationships among perceived stress, emotional eating, coping, and barriers to and motivators of healthy eating both concurrently and 1 year later in a sample of young adult college students (n = 232).

RESULTS

At baseline, emotional eating was significantly associated with perceived stress (r = 0.36, p < .001), barriers to (r = 0.31, p < .001) and motivators of (r =  - 0.14, p < .05) healthy eating, and avoidance coping (r = 0.37, p < .001), but not approach coping. Furthermore, avoidance coping mediated (indirect effect b = 0.36, 95% CI = 0.13, 0.61) and moderated (b =  - 0.07, p = 0.04) the relationship between perceived stress and emotional eating. Contrary to study hypotheses, baseline stress levels were not associated with emotional eating 1 year later.

CONCLUSION

College students who utilize avoidance coping strategies may be particularly susceptible to the effects of stress on emotional eating. Healthy eating interventions targeting college students might address stress coping strategies in addition to reduction of barriers to healthy eating.

Winter Holidays and Their Impact on Eating Behavior-A Systematic Review

(1) Background: There has been a growing interest in understanding the causes of obesity and developing effective prevention strategies. Lifestyle change programs are often considered the gold standard for weight reduction, and they can help individuals with obesity achieve an annual weight loss of around 8-10%. The aim of this review was to evaluate the effect of food during the winter holidays. This knowledge will serve as a valuable foundation for the development of targeted interventions and prevention programs. (2) Methods: We conducted a systematic search of the literature via one database (PubMed). The search was limited to studies published in English in the last 10 years, with adult participants, but without specifying limits regarding the study design. We excluded articles that addressed intermittent fasting diets or weight loss intervention methods during the holidays through various diets. (3) In separate sections, we analyzed the psychological causes of gaining weight during the winter holidays, behavioral patterns, prevention strategies and the nutritional composition of the different types of food served during the festive period. Results: Using the combination of the terms "holiday and obesity", "holiday and weight gain", "festive season and obesity", and "festive season and weight gain" we obtained 216 results involving the addressed topic. Thus, only ten articles remained after screening, with a total of 4627 participants. Most participants experienced weight fluctuations during the study period, particularly during holidays. One concerning observation was that most of the weight gained during these periods was maintained even after the end of the studies, especially in those with obesity. A supervised exercise program and a controlled diet at work over the Christmas period are effective strategies for avoiding weight gain and its deleterious effects in people with metabolic syndrome or weight problems. (4) In addition, attention must be focused on the psycho-social factors during the holidays because for some people it is a stressful period and can cause a much higher caloric consumption. The simplest method to approach during the holidays is to implement small tips and tricks during this period that will prevent individuals from gaining extra pounds. Conclusions: It is essential to acknowledge that obesity is a multifaceted condition that requires a comprehensive and multidisciplinary approach to address its underlying factors and provide ongoing assistance to individuals in their weight-management endeavors. Even the most effective short-term interventions are likely to produce continued positive outcomes with persistent intervention and support.

Music as an alternative self-regulation strategy to snack foods following a negative mood induction in 5-7-year-old children: Interactions with parental use of food as a reward

This study aimed to extend studies that have looked at snack food consumption following a negative mood induction, and examine whether listening to a happy song would counteract food consumption in children. A second aim was to examine whether parental feeding practices (use of food as a reward and the use of food to regulate emotions) and child Body Mass Index (BMI) would moderate any differences. Eighty 5-7-year-old children took part in a negative mood induction and were then assigned to either a happy music condition or a silent control condition. The weight (g) consumed of four snack foods was measured (fruit hearts, crisps, chocolate biscuits, and breadsticks). Parents filled in baseline measures of feeding practices. There were no significant differences in food consumption between conditions. There was, however, a significant interaction between the high use of food as a reward and the condition on the amount of food eaten. In particular, following a negative -mood induction, those children whose parents reported using food as a reward and who were in the silent condition ate significantly more snack foods. There were no significant interactions with child BMI or with parental use of food to regulate emotions. This research suggests that the use of certain parental strategies may influence how children respond to novel emotion regulation techniques. Further research is needed to evaluate the best types of music to regulate emotions in children, and whether parents can be encouraged to replace maladaptive feeding practices with more adaptive non-food practices.

Study about Food Choice Determinants According to Six Types of Conditioning Motivations in a Sample of 11,960 Participants

Many aspects linked to personal characteristics, society and culture constitute some of the motivators that drive food choice. The aim of this work was to determine in what extent the eating behaviors of individuals are shaped by six different types of determinants, namely: health, emotions, price and availability, society and culture, environment and politics, and marketing and commercials. This is a descriptive cross-sectional study, involving a non-probabilistic sample of 11,960 participants from 16 countries. The objective of this work was to validate the questionnaire, so as to make it suitable for application in different contexts and different countries. For that, six scales were considered for validation by confirmatory factor analysis with structural equation modelling. The obtained results showed that the six individual scales evaluated presented good or very good fitting indices, with saturation in goodness-of-fit index in all cases. The values of chi-square ratio were 6.921 (for health), 0.987 (environment), 0.610 (emotions) and 0.000 in the remaining cases (convenience, society, marketing). Furthermore, the fit was perfect, with saturation for all indices, in three of the six models (convenience, society and marketing). The results of this wok allowed the validation of the six scales, and the assessing of different types of factors that can influence food choices and eating behaviors, namely in the categories: health, emotions, price and availability, society and culture, environment and politics, and marketing and commercials.

The Mediating Effect of Coping Style in the Relationship Between Depression and Disordered Eating Among Chinese Female Undergraduates

The aim of the current study was to explore the relationship between depression and disordered eating in female undergraduates and the mediating role of coping style between depression and disordered eating. Self-report questionnaires assessing coping style, disordered eating, and depression were completed in 646 Chinese female undergraduates. The results illustrated that there were obvious differences in disordered eating among the undergraduates with various majors. The disordered eating in female undergraduates majoring in art was more serious than those in other majors. Depression and coping style were effective indicators to predict disordered eating. Moreover, depression could not only directly predict disordered eating, but also predict disordered eating through the mediating effect of coping style. These findings indicate that depression and negative coping style are associated with disordered eating. Coping style could mediate the effect of depression on disordered eating, as these may be an important target for early intervention programs for eating disorder (ED).