The interaction of eating restraint and stressful life events on women's weight and weight changes

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The interaction of eating restraint and experience of stressful life events upon body mass index (BMI) and weight changes over a year were studied among women. The subjects were 71 volunteers of middle socio-economic status and varying adiposity. They were recruited without association to a weight loss program. Assessment instruments included Herman and Mack's Revised Restraint Scale (excluding weight fluctuation items), Holmes and Rahe's Life Events Scale, and several questions related to attempts to control eating and coping behaviors. These were assessed at the beginning of the study and related to weight changes over the following year. Two 3×2 analyses of variance were performed using either BMI or weight changes as the dependent variable and three levels of eating restraint and two levels of stressful life events as classification variables. In neither model was there a main effect of restraint or stress, but there was an interaction of restraint and stress upon BMI. Women with low or medium restraint scores and high stress scores had lower BMI's than women with low stress scores. However, women with high restraint scores and high stress had higher BMI's. Weight changes over a year showed no significant differences.