Association Between Emotional Eating, Sociodemographic Characteristics, Physical Activity, Sleep Duration, and Mental and Physical Health in Young Adults.

A systematic review and meta-analysis of cross-sectional questionnaire studies of the relationship between negative and positive emotional eating and body mass index: Valence matters.

Emotion regulation difficulties interact with negative, not positive, emotional eating to strengthen relationships with disordered eating: An exploratory study

Background: It has been recognized that body fatness and mental disorders have association, however very limited evidence have proved that physical fitness and mental health have association. Relationship between physical fitness and mental health in young adults has not been fully proved. The purpose of the study was to investigate the association between physical fitness, body fatness, and mental health in young adults.Methods: A total of 149 (97 males and 52 females) college students were included. Physical fitness (sit-ups, push-ups, 1 mile run/walk), and body mass index (BMI) was measured, and psychological questionnaires including life satisfaction, self-efficacy, the beck depression inventory (BDI), and adult self report (ASR) were administered. The levels of physical fitness and BMI were classified into tertile groups and were analyzed.Results: Female participants with the highest tertile of BMI had highest ASR score (p<0.05). Participants with highest level of physical fitness showed higher level of self-efficacy in both males and females (p<0.05). In both male and female, physical fitness was a significant predictor for self-efficacy (Male: β=0.35, p<0.05, Female: β =0.31, p<0.05).Conclusions: In conclusion, physical fitness and body fatness were associated with mental health. Especially, physical fitness, independent of BMI, was proved as significant indicator for mental health in young adults.

OBJECTIVES/GOALS: Weight stigma, or discrimination and devaluation of people due to high body weight, is associated with higher prevalence of concerning health consequences (e.g., depressive symptoms, body dissatisfaction). This public health research investigated how experiencing weight stigma affects weight-related health outcomes in a cohort of young people. METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: 1,534 Project EAT 2010-2018 participants were surveyed as adolescents (mean age=14.4 years) and eight years later as young adults (mean age=22.2 years). Participants were asked how often they were teased about their weight. Outcomes included body mass index (BMI), nutrition habits (intake of breakfast, fruit, vegetables, sugar-sweetened beverages, fast-food), sedentary/activity behaviors (moderate-to-vigorous physical activity, screen time, sleep duration), and disordered eating behaviors (unhealthy weight control behaviors, extreme weight control behaviors, dieting, chronic dieting, overeating, binge eating). Regression models were adjusted for BMI, sociodemographic characteristics, and, in longitudinal models, the outcome assessed at baseline. RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: Experiencing weight stigma was cross-sectionally significantly associated with higher BMI, shorter sleep duration, and higher prevalence of all six disordered eating behaviors during both adolescence and young adulthood. It was also significantly associated with longer screen time in adolescence, and with lower breakfast frequency, higher intake of sugar-sweetened beverages, and higher intake of fast-food during young adulthood. Weight stigma in adolescence significantly predicted higher BMI and higher prevalence of overeating and dieting in young adulthood. For example, adolescents who were teased about their weight had a higher mean BMI (28.2 kg/m2 [95% confidence interval: 27.8-28.7]) in young adulthood compared to those who had not been teased (26.4 kg/m2 [95% confidence interval: 26.1-26.8]). DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE: Findings add to the growing body of evidence that weight stigma may pose a threat to weight-related health. Because many clinicians are unaware of this evidence and healthcare settings are common sources of weight stigma, next steps include writing a research proposal that aims to decrease weight stigma conveyed to patients in clinical practice.

Introduction: Adults who reach middle age with optimal levels of three physiologic factors – blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood glucose – have lower rates of CVD mortality compared to those with one or more of these risk factors in the non-optimal range. The American Heart Association has identified four healthy lifestyle components – BMI, smoking, diet, and physical activity – important for preserving optimal cardiovascular health as people age. However, which lifestyle components in adolescence are most strongly associated with physiologic markers of cardiovascular health in adulthood is unclear. The purpose of this study was to quantify associations between lifestyle components measured in adolescence and optimal physiologic cardiovascular health in young adulthood. Methods: Analyses included 9,697 young adults, age 24-32 years in 2007-2008, who participated in Wave IV of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. We defined optimal physiologic cardiovascular heath as untreated blood pressure <120/80 mmHg, untreated fasting blood glucose <100 mg/dL and hemoglobin A1C < 5.7%, untreated total cholesterol in the bottom 7 (women) or 6 (men) deciles for the study population, and absence of diabetes or CVD as measured at Wave IV. We used logistic regression models to estimate the odds of having optimal physiologic cardiovascular health in young adulthood according to BMI category, smoking status, and physical activity patterns measured during Waves I and II when participants were ages 11-20 years. Dietary data were not available. Models were adjusted for age, sex, race, educational attainment, and income in young adulthood. Results: Few young adults (16%, 1,592 of 9,697) had optimal physiologic cardiovascular health. Young adults who had been normal-weighted in adolescence were more likely to have optimal physiologic cardiovascular health (18.4%, 1,382 of 7,206) compared to those who had been overweight (9.4%, 142 of 1,429) or obese (6.9%, 68 of 1,062). In models adjusted for young adult sociodemographic factors, participants who had been overweight or obese as adolescents were less than half as likely as those who had been normal-weighted to have optimal physiologic cardiovascular health in young adulthood (overweight odds ratio (OR) 0.43, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.35-0.61; obese OR 0.40, 95% CI 0.28-0.57). Adolescent tobacco smoking and physical activity were not associated with young adult cardiovascular health. Conclusions: Maintaining a healthy weight in adolescence may be the most important lifestyle factor for reaching young adulthood with optimal physiologic cardiovascular health. Overweight and obese adolescents should be encouraged to achieve a healthy weight through adherence to diet and physical activity goals.

Introduction: Migration affects people’s lives, including their behaviours which impact both physical and mental health. Anxiety and depressive symptoms in migrants have been linked to negative physical and mental health outcomes associated with eating behaviour. This study aimed to analyse the mediating impact of positive and negative affect on the relationship between anxiety and depressive symptoms and emotional eating in migrants. Method: A sample of 922 Colombian migrants in Chile participated in the study. The Beck Anxiety Inventory, Beck Depression Inventory-II, Positive and Negative Affect Schedule, and the Dutch Eating Behaviour Questionnaire were used for data collection. Mediation analysis was conducted using structural equation models. Results: Anxiety and depression correlated positively. Anxiety presented positive results on negative affect and emotional eating and negative results on positive affect. Depression had positive impacts on negative affect and emotional eating and negative impacts on positive affect. Only negative affect presented significant positive results on emotional eating. Only negative affect presented a specific and statistically significant indirect influence on anxiety and emotional eating. Positive affect and negative affect jointly presented a total and statistically significant indirect effect between anxiety and EE and between depression and emotional eating. Conclusions: This study provides evidence of how negative affect mediates the relationship between anxiety and depressive symptoms and emotional eating.

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Sleep hygiene encompasses behavioral and environmental practices that shape sleep quality and circadian stability. Among young adults, lifestyle demands, academic pressures, and widespread digital media use contribute to irregular sleep–wake schedules, shortened sleep duration, and increasing sleep disturbances. This narrative review synthesizes research from sleep medicine, psychology, and public health to examine how sleep hygiene relates to cognitive performance, psychological well-being, and physical functioning in young adults. Evidence indicates that inconsistent sleep timing, evening light exposure, and stimulating pre-sleep activities are linked to impaired attention, reduced learning efficiency, and poorer executive functioning. Poor sleep hygiene is also associated with heightened emotional reactivity, greater risk of anxiety and depressive symptoms, and impaired stress regulation. Physiological consequences include altered neuroendocrine rhythms, reduced recovery capacity, and declines in physical performance. Intervention studies show that adopting regular sleep schedules, minimizing nocturnal screen exposure, and optimizing sleep environments can improve sleep quality, daytime functioning, and mental health. Taken together, sleep hygiene emerges as a modifiable and cost-effective determinant of health in young adults. Integrating sleep-supportive behaviors into preventive medicine, education, and public health initiatives may help protect cognitive, emotional, and physical functioning during this critical developmental period.

Putting Adolescent Health at the Heart of Pediatrics

BackgroundSleep, physical activity, and diet have been associated with mental health and well-being individually in young adults. However, which of these “big three” health behaviors most strongly predicts mental health and well-being, and their higher-order relationships in predictive models, is less known. This study investigated the differential and higher-order associations between sleep, physical activity, and dietary factors as predictors of mental health and well-being in young adults.MethodIn a cross-sectional survey design, 1,111 young adults (28.4% men) ages 18–25 from New Zealand and the United States answered an online survey measuring typical sleep quantity and quality; physical activity; and consumption of raw and processed fruit and vegetables, fast food, sweets, and soda, along with extensive covariates (including demographics, socioeconomic status, body mass index, alcohol use, smoking, and health conditions) and the outcome measures of depressive symptoms [measured by the Center for Epidemiological Depression Scale (CES-D)] and well-being (measured by the Flourishing Scale).ResultsControlling for covariates, sleep quality was the strongest predictor of depressive symptoms and well-being, followed by sleep quantity and physical activity. Only one dietary factor—raw fruit and vegetable consumption—predicted greater well-being but not depressive symptoms when controlling for covariates. There were some higher-order interactions among health behaviors in predicting the outcomes, but these did not survive cross-validation.ConclusionSleep quality is an important predictor of mental health and well-being in young adults, whereas physical activity and diet are secondary but still significant factors. Although strictly correlational, these patterns suggest that future interventions could prioritize sleep quality to maximize mental health and well-being in young adults.

IntroductionThe closure of sports centres was implemented as a preventive measure to mitigate the transmission of SARS-CoV-2. Given the observed global decline in physical activity and concurrent rise in sedentary behaviour, even among younger age groups, a retrospective cross-sectional study was undertaken to evaluate the effects of this measure on mental health in children, adolescents, and young adults during the initial phases of the COVID-19 pandemic.MethodsA total of 1,717 non-professional athletes (age range: 6–25; 53.9% males, 44.6% females) completed an online questionnaire including widely used and validated measures for mental health assessment (SDQ and PGWB-S) and questions regarding sociodemographic characteristics (such as gender), physical activity, and screen time. The association between mental health and sociodemographic characteristics, physical activity, and screen time was evaluated by using univariate and multivariable logistic regression models.ResultsIn children and adolescents, the incidence of psychological difficulties was associated with not being physically active (OR = 1.49; 95% CI: 1.09, 2.07; p = 0.015). Engaging in physical activity during the period of closures, particularly if more than twice a week, was significantly associated with less psychological difficulties for children/adolescents (OR = 0.54; 95% CI: 0.35, 0.82; p = 0.004) and psychological symptoms (i.e., psychological well-being lower than the median) for youth/young adults (OR = 0.25; 95% CI: 0.14, 0.45; p < 0.001). More psychological difficulties were also found in males for children and adolescents (OR = 1.37; 95% CI: 1.06, 1.79; p = 0.018). However, young adult males showed less psychological symptoms than females (OR = 0.35; 95% CI: 0.22, 0.55; p = 0.001). Additionally, a greater amount of screen time was associated with a higher incidence of psychological symptoms in the whole sample.ConclusionsOur results confirm the positive impact of physical activity on mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic among younger age groups. They also provide valuable insights into the risk-benefit relationship of interrupting sports activities as a preventive measure for infectious diseases.

Poor sleep quality, often resulting from poor sleep hygiene, is common among medical students. Educational interventions aimed at improving sleep knowledge are beneficial for sleep quality in healthy populations. However, sleep education is often given minimal attention in medical school curriculums. The aim of the study was to explore whether a short educational intervention could improve sleep knowledge, and consequently sleep quality, among medical students. We recruited preclinical- and clinical-stage medical students during the 2017-2018 academic year. Students completed a demographic survey, the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS), and the Assessment of Sleep Knowledge in Medical Education (ASKME) questionnaire. Students then attended a lecture on the physiology and importance of sleep. To assess the efficacy of the intervention, questionnaires were repeated 4 months thereafter. A total of 87 students (31 preclinical) with a mean age of 25.86 years (standard deviation [SD], 3.33), 51 of whom were women, participated in the study. At baseline, students had poor sleep quality with a PSQI mean score of 5.9 (SD, 2.37), without significant sleepiness, and a mean ESS score of 8.86 (SD, 4.32). The mean ASKME scores were consistent with poor sleep knowledge at 11.87 (SD, 4.32). After the intervention, the mean ASKME results improved to 14.15 (SD, 4.5; P < .001), whereas sleep quality did not. The effect was similar in preclinical and clinical medical students. Sleep knowledge was inadequate among medical students, who also experienced poor sleep quality. A short educational intervention improved sleep knowledge but was insufficient at improving sleep quality. Further studies are needed to determine which interventions may provide benefit in both sleep knowledge and sleep quality.

Aims: Little is known about long-term mental health in young adults who participate in ongoing grief counseling programs after early parental death in childhood, adolescence or young adulthood. The purpose of this study was to examine mental health in young adults according to early parental death and participation in grief counseling. Methods: In a cross-sectional, questionnaire-based study, we included three samples of young adults age 18-41 years. One sample who had lost a parent between age 0 and 30 years and who had participated in grief counseling identified through four Danish grief-counseling organizations, and two registry-based samples of young adults included parentally bereaved and non-bereaved young adults. Multivariate-adjusted regression analyses were performed to characterize risk of depressive symptoms and mental health-related quality of life (HQoL) according to early parental death and participation in grief counseling. Results: A total of 2467 (45%) young adults participated. Bereaved young adults reported significantly more depressive symptoms (p<0.0001) and lower mental HQoL (p<0.0001) than non-bereaved young adults and than general population levels for both depressive symptoms (p<0.0001) and HQoL (p<0.0001). Bereaved young adults who had participated in grief counseling reported significantly more depressive symptoms (p<0.0001) and lower mental HQoL (p<0.0001) than bereaved persons who did not participate in grief counseling. Conclusions: Bereaved young adults report more mental health problems than non-bereaved young adults, and also after participation in grief counseling the death of a parent may be accompanied by subsequent mental health problems.

Regarding the association between sleep and napping duration and mental health in young and older adults, some studies indicated a positive association, while others indicated a negative, or no, association between them. Moreover, collegiate student athletes have different mental health stressors, such as training pressure, improving sports performance, and relationships with coaches. Therefore, sleep is important for athletes. Whether sleep duration is related to their mental health is unclear. Thus, this study aimed to examine the association between nighttime sleep duration, daytime napping duration, and mental health among collegiate student athletees. This cross-sectional study included 700 college athletes. Sleep and daytime napping durations were assessed using a self-reported questionnaire. The Zung Self-rating Depression Scale and Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 assessed mental health. A multivariate logistic regression analysis was conducted to examine the adjusted association between sleep duration and mental health. In this study, the odds ratios for depression and anxiety symptoms were significantly higher for short sleep duration (<7 h). Additionally, a significant positive association was found between daytime napping duration and the prevalence of depression. This study indicates that short nighttime sleep and long daytime napping duration may be risk factors for collegiate student athletes’ mental health, having important implications for educators and coaches.

Health Care Reform and Adolescents—An Agenda for the Lifespan: A Position Paper of the Society for Adolescent Medicine