Relationship between healthy life awareness, emotional eating, obesity awareness, and coping stress in adolescents

Abstract

AbstractThe aim of this study was to examine the relationship between health life awareness, emotional eating, obesity awareness, and coping with stress in adolescents. Data were collected with the “Personal Information Form,” “Healthy Life Awareness Scale,” “Obesity Awareness Scale,” “Emotional Eating Scale for Children and Adolescents,” and “Styles of Coping Stress Inventory.” The sample of the study consisted of 382 high school students. The emotional eating scores of the obese adolescents were higher than the thin ones (p < .05); obese adolescents had higher submissive approach scores (p < .05) in coping with stress compared to adolescents who are overweight. There was a positive relationship between obesity awareness and positive coping approaches (p < .05); awareness of healthy living and positive coping approaches (p < .05). An one‐unit increase in healthy living awareness causes an increase of 0.409 on obesity awareness. Considering these results, education and intervention studies are recommended for adolescents on healthy living, coping with stress, and obesity awareness.