The Influence of Worries on Emotional Eating, Weight Concerns, and Body Mass Index in Latina Female Youth

Abstract

To investigate the effect of worries on weight concerns, emotional eating, and body mass index (BMI) percentile in an ethnically diverse sample of female youth. This study used baseline and follow-up data from a brief school-based physical activity intervention trial involving minority female youth. Partial correlations adjusted for intervention status, age, and ethnicity were used to assess the relationships between emotional eating, weight concerns, and BMI percentile at follow-up. Multilevel modeling was used to analyze the relationships between baseline worries and follow-up emotional eating, weight concerns, and BMI percentile. Additional analysis assessed whether emotional eating mediated and/or moderated the relationship between baseline worries and follow-up BMI. Data were analyzed using SAS version 9.1. The sample consisted of 404 minority females (67.1% Latina; mean age = 12.5 ± .6; 60.6% were of normal weight). Weight concerns were positively correlated with emotional eating and BMI percentile (p < .001 for both). At follow-up, baseline worries significantly predicted emotional eating (p = .027) and weight concerns (p < .001) but not BMI percentile (p = .183). Emotional eating did not mediate the relationship between baseline worries and follow-up BMI percentile; however, it did moderate the relationship between baseline worries and follow-up BMI percentile (p = .003). In this sample, worries were associated with psychosocial variables but not with BMI percentile. Reducing worries in those with high emotional eating scores may influence future weight gain among Latina females.