Abstract
PurposeEmotional eating is a trans-diagnostic dimension in eating disorders and is present in many other conditions that could affect eating attitudes. At present, there is no instrument that measures emotional eating evaluating both the intensity and the frequency of emotion-induced desire to eat. The aim of the study was the validation of the Florence Emotional Eating Drive (FEED).MethodsA sample of healthy volunteers was initially enrolled to explore internal consistency and test–retest reliability. The Emotional Eating Scale (EES), Eating Disorders Evaluation-Questionnaire (EDE-Q), Binge Eating Scale (BES) and Symptom Checklist-90 (SCL-90-R), together with the final version of FEED, were administered to a clinical sample composed by patients with eating disorders, obesity, and type 2 diabetes, to explore the underlying structure of the questionnaire and verify its validity.ResultsFEED showed excellent internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.96) and test–retest reliability (r = 0.93). FEED scores were higher in patients with BN and BED than in AN patients, negatively correlated with age and positively with BES and EES. Multiple regression analysis showed that FEED, but not EES, was independently associated with SCL-90-R and EDE-Q scores.ConclusionFEED internal consistency and test–retest reliability were excellent. The addition of specific questions on the frequency of behaviours led to a better component structure and robustness compared to EES. A tool that reliably and specifically assesses eating behaviours driven by emotional states may be extremely useful in clinical settings.Level of evidenceLevel V, cross-sectional study.
Highlights
The impact of biology, society, culture and environment on emotions has been often debated [1,2,3]
We aim to demonstrate the validity and reliability of the Florence Emotional Eating Drive (FEED) questionnaire for the assessment of emotional eating, exploring the occurrence of specific emotions together with the association between such emotions and the urge to eat
The test was developed on the basis of a pre-existing questionnaire, the Emotional Eating Scale (EES) [15], which explores the patients’ perception of the impact of different emotions on their desire to eat; it does not provide any indication of the frequency with which the emotions affecting eating behaviour occur
Summary
The impact of biology, society, culture and environment on emotions has been often debated [1,2,3]. Eating and Weight Disorders - Studies on Anorexia, Bulimia and Obesity a maladaptive strategy of emotional regulation [12], some authors consider the impaired cognitive capacity to process and regulate emotions as a key feature of EDs [11, 13, 14]. For this reason, emotional eating, which is the desire to eat in response to different emotional states [15], was suggested as a trans-diagnostic feature in EDs, regardless of the presence of binge eating or overeating behaviours [16,17,18]. It has been reported that emotional eating is present in patients with Anorexia Nervosa (AN) [17], obesity [19] and diabetes [20]
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