Emotional Eating In Adolescence Research Articles

Emotional Eating Prevalence and Correlates in Adolescents in the United States.

Background: Adolescent obesity rates continue to rise. A better understanding of who engages in emotional eating, a maladaptive eating style, is needed. Despite emotional eating being a frequent research target, the prevalence of emotional eating in US adolescents is currently unknown. Methods: Nationally representative adolescents (n = 1622, m = 14.48 years, 63.8% non-Hispanic White, 50.6% female) reported eating behaviors in the National Cancer Institute's Family Life, Activity, Sun, Health, and Eating (FLASHE) study. Frequencies and one-way ANOVAs were conducted to examine the rates of emotional eating across demographic and weight status groups. Correlations between emotional eating and dietary intake were examined. Results: In total, 30% of adolescents engaged in emotional eating. Older adolescents (35% of 17-year-olds), females (39%), non-Hispanic White individuals (32%), and adolescents with obesity (44%) had significantly higher rates of emotional eating. Controlling for weight status, greater adolescent emotional eating was correlated with more frequent intake of energy-dense/nutrient-poor foods (β = 0.10, p < 0.001), junk food (β = 0.12, p < 0.001), and convenience foods (β = 0.13, p < 0.001). Conclusions: This study fills a critical gap by providing insight into how common adolescent emotional eating is and highlighting demographic factors that are associated with higher rates. Nearly a third of adolescents in the United States reported eating due to anxiety or sadness, with rates higher in older adolescents, girls, non-Hispanic White adolescents, and adolescents with obesity. Emotional eating was associated with consuming less healthy foods, which conveys immediate and long-term health risks. Practitioners can intervene with emotional eating to reduce obesity and comorbid health risks.

Eating behaviors as pathways from early childhood adversity to adolescent cardiometabolic risk.

To identify specific eating behavior pathways that mediate associations between financial difficulties, negative life events, and maternal depressive symptoms from 0 to 5 years and cardiometabolic risk in adolescence. Hypotheses were tested with data from birth to age 15 years using the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children, a birth cohort in the United Kingdom (n = 3,887 for current analyses). Mothers reported on financial difficulties, negative life events, and maternal depressive symptoms at multiple points from 0 to 5 years and reported on worry about child overeating at 8 years. Youth self-reported restrained, emotional, and external eating at age 14. Youth completed a cardiometabolic health assessment at age 15 where waist circumference, triglycerides, high-density lipoprotein, and insulin resistance were measured. Longitudinal structural equation modeling with bootstrapping was used to test mediation models. Greater negative life events and maternal depressive symptoms predicted greater parental worry about child overeating at age 8, which directly predicted greater restrained and emotional eating at 14 and cardiometabolic risk at 15. Restrained and emotional eating at 14 directly predicted greater cardiometabolic risk at age 15. Negative life events and maternal depressive symptoms in infancy/early childhood are associated with cardiometabolic risk in adolescence through pathways of parental worry about child overeating in middle childhood and youth-reported restrained and emotional eating in adolescence. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Emotional dysregulation moderates the relation between perceived stress and emotional eating in adolescent military dependents.

Adolescent children of US service members (i.e., military-dependent youth) face unique stressors that increase risk for various forms of disinhibited eating, including emotional eating. Difficulties with adaptively responding to stress and aversive emotions may play an important role in emotional eating. This study examined emotion dysregulation as a potential moderator of the association between perceived stress and emotional eating in adolescent military dependents. Participants were military-dependent youth (N = 163, 57.7% female, Mage = 14.5 ± 1.6, MBMI-z = 1.9 ± 0.4) at risk for adult binge-eating disorder and high weight enrolled in a randomized controlled prevention trial. Prior to intervention, participants completed questionnaires assessing perceived stress and emotional eating. Parents completed a questionnaire assessing their adolescent's emotion dysregulation. Moderation analyses were conducted using the PROCESS macro in SPSS and adjusted for theoretically relevant sociodemographic covariates. The interaction between adolescent perceived stress and emotion dysregulation (parent-reported about the adolescent) in relation to adolescent emotional eating was found to be significant, such that higher emotion dysregulation magnified the association between perceived stress and emotional eating (p = .010). Examination of simple slopes indicated that associations between perceived stress and emotional eating were strongest for youth with above-average emotion dysregulation, and non-significant for youth with average or below-average emotion dysregulation. Findings suggest that greater emotion dysregulation may increase risk for emotional eating in response to stress among military-dependent youth at risk for binge-eating disorder or high weight. Improving emotion regulation skills may be a useful target for eating disorder prevention among youth who are at risk for emotional eating. Prior research has shown that adolescent military dependents are at increased risk for eating disorders and high weight. The current study found that emotion dysregulation moderated the relationship between perceived stress and emotional eating among military-dependent youth. There may be clinical utility in intervening on emotion regulation for adolescent dependents at particular risk for emotional eating and subsequent eating disorders.

Interactions of parental feeding characteristics and adolescent emotional eating in relation to unhealthful food and sugar-sweetened beverage intake among adolescents

The purpose of the current study was to examine main and interaction effects of parental feeding characteristics and adolescent emotional eating in relation to adolescents’ unhealthful food and sugar-sweetened beverage intake. Data was used from the Family Life, Activity, Sun, Health, and Eating (FLASHE) study, which is an internet-administered cross-sectional study of adolescent-parent dyads. There were 1573 dyads who completed all study questionnaires. Adolescents completed measures of their emotional eating and dietary intake and parents completed items of parental feeding practices and legitimacy of parental authority. Adolescents with parents who reported higher instrumental feeding, higher limiting and legitimacy of authority, and lower role modeling and stimulus control had greater unhealthful eating and sugar-sweetened beverage intake. Elevated adolescent emotional eating strengthened the positive association between parental instrumental feeding and adolescent unhealthful food and sugar-sweetened beverage intake. Elevated adolescent emotional eating weakened the negative association between parental role modeling and stimulus control and adolescent sugar-sweetened beverage consumption. There was no interaction between parental role modeling and stimulus control and adolescent emotional eating for unhealthful food intake and no interaction between parental limiting and legitimacy of authority and adolescent emotional eating for unhealthful food or sugar-sweetened beverage intake. Given these findings, adolescent obesity and nutrition interventions and preventions should target both parental feeding characteristics and adolescent emotional eating.

Psychosocial correlates in patterns of adolescent emotional eating and dietary consumption.

Unhealthy eating behaviors, such as consumption of unhealthy diet and emotional eating, are common in adolescence and tend to co-occur. However, how these behaviors are patterned may vary among adolescents. This study identified patterns of dietary consumption and emotional eating behaviors in adolescents and examined the sociodemographic and psychosocial (e.g., self-efficacy beliefs and motivation) covariates associated with these eating patterns. Data were from the Family Life, Activity, Sun, Health and Eating study. Latent class analysis was used to estimate adolescent dietary patterns from dietary consumption (i.e., fruits, vegetables, sugar-sweetened beverages, junk food, etc.) and emotional eating variables (i.e., eating when feeling sad or anxious). The sample included 1,568 adolescents (Mean age = 14.48-years-old, 49% girls, 55% White). A four-class solution best fit the data (e.g., Bayesian Information Criteria [BIC] = 12263.568, three-class model BIC = 12271.622). Four unhealthy eating behavior patterns were identified: poor diet/high emotional eating, mixed diet/high emotional eating, poor diet/low emotional eating, and mixed diet/low emotional eating. Compared to the poor diet/high emotional eating group, the other groups were less likely to include older adolescents, girls, and adolescents who experienced food insecurity, and more likely to have higher self-efficacy for eating fruits and vegetables and limiting junk foods as well as motivation for consuming fruits and vegetables and limiting junk foods. Our findings highlight adolescents' complex dietary patterns that include dietary consumption and emotional eating behaviors. Future studies should examine other potential dietary patterns that include emotional eating. Efforts to address unhealthy patterns of adolescents' dietary consumption and emotional eating behaviors should be expanded.

A biobehavioral examination of emotional eating in adolescents: Evaluating the role of acute cortisol stress reactivity in the context of a multi-method assessment of eating in response to stress

Stress is linked to emotional eating among adolescents, which in turn increases risk for overweight/obesity (OW/OB) development and continuation. There is a lack of research disentangling chronic and acute stress as predictors of adolescent emotional eating. Further, there is a corresponding need to understand the effects of acute physiological stress reactivity within the context of adolescent emotional eating. The primary aim of this study was to examine the impact of cortisol stress reactivity on emotional eating in adolescents, above and beyond the effects of perceived chronic stress. The impact of subjective stress reactivity was also explored. Adolescents’ (N = 49) intake of highly palatable snack foods was measured on separate control and stress-induction (following the Trier Social Stress Test for Children) days. A multi-method approach was used to assess objective (caloric intake) and subjective (self-report) emotional eating. Results indicated that greater cortisol reactivity, but not subjective stress reactivity, predicted subjective emotional eating, beyond the impact of chronic stress. Neither chronic stress nor subjective or objective stress reactivity predicted objective emotional eating following stress-induction. Findings point to the role of chronic stress and cortisol reactivity as risks for greater perceived emotional eating among adolescents, while elucidating differences between perceived and objective emotional eating. Future research should explore how chronic versus acute stress differentially contribute to adolescent weight management.

Mediation of self-concept clarity and self-control between negative emotional states and emotional eating in Chinese adolescents

Recent studies have consistently lent support for the significant relationship between negative emotional states (e.g., anxiety, stress, and depression) and emotional eating; however, only a handful of studies focused on examining the potential mediator in this association. The present study aimed to contribute to the literature surrounding the link between negative emotional states and emotional eating and to examine the mediating role of self-concept clarity and self-control in this association among a sample of Chinese adolescents (N = 1347, 62.44% girls). Results indicated that adolescents perceived higher levels of negative emotional states were linked to higher emotional eating. Additionally, the structural equation model suggested that symptoms of stress and depression could be associated with emotional eating through self-control. Moreover, the serial mediation effect of self-concept clarity and self-control could account for the association of negative emotional states (e.g., symptoms of anxiety, stress, and depression) and emotional eating. Overall, this study advances our understanding of the underlying mechanisms through which negative emotional states predict emotional eating in adolescence. If future studies reveal converging findings, this knowledge points to the need for programs preventing the development of emotional eating in adolescence through increasing the level of self-control and self-concept clarity.

A predictor of emotional eating in adolescents: Social anxiety

This descriptive, cross-sectional study was conducted to determine the effect of social anxiety on emotional eating in adolescents. The sample consisted of 1027 adolescents between aged 14–18 studying in the 9-12th grades of the high schools in the Central Anatolia Region in the 2018–2019 academic year. Ethics Committee and institutional permission was obtained in this study, data were collected by a questionnaire, the Social Anxiety Scale for Children-Revised (SASC-R), and The Emotional Eating Scale Adapted for Use in Children and Adolescents (EES-C). Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Mann-Whitney U test, Kruskal-Wallis test and simple linear regression analysis. Adolescents had a mean SASC-R and EES-C score of 43.49 ± 16.56 and 61.93 ± 18.68, respectively. It was found that there was a relationship between EES-C mean scores and SASC-R mean scores, and they explained 35.0 % of the scores they got from the EES-C scale (p < 0.05). In conclusion, adolescents had moderate emotional eating and social anxiety. The higher the social anxiety, the higher the emotional eating. School personnel, parents and healthcare professionals need education about social anxiety and eating disorders in adolescents in order to detect symptoms early and intervene to better support adolescents struggling with social anxiety.

Psychosocial correlates in patterns of adolescent emotional eating and dietary consumption

Psychosocial correlates in patterns of adolescent emotional eating and dietary consumption

Negative emodiversity is associated with emotional eating in adolescents: An examination of emotion dynamics in daily life.

Emotional eating is a mental health concern, common in adolescents, that develops as a result of their tendency to use high-energy food to regulate their fluctuating emotions. Due to their highly fluctuating emotional life, adolescents tend to have unique within-person profiles of emotional experiences that change across moments and days, often lost in global assessments of emotions. Hence, it is imperative to examine individual differences in dynamics of emotions, as experienced in daily life, in relation to emotional eating in adolescents. In an Ecological Momentary Assessment study, we examined individual differences in three within-person dynamic characteristics (baseline levels, intraindividual variability, and emodiversity) of emotions in 158 dominantly Hispanic adolescents in the United States, aged 14-17 years old, predicting trait-level emotional eating. Results indicated that higher negative emodiversity, baselines, and variability in stress were predictive of emotional eating in adolescents. When all considered together, negative emodiversity (i.e., variety of the types of negative emotions experienced in one's daily life) remained the only significant predictor of emotional eating. This study affirms the importance of diversity in emotional experiences in relation to emotional eating, particularly in daily contexts of adolescents' lives. Additionally, the study emphasizes the importance of distinguishing between diversity (i.e., variety in types) in positive versus negative emotional experiences with regard to emotional eating. By taking into account the ecological validity of adolescents' daily lives and individual differences in dynamical changes in emotions, we are taking a step forward by shedding light on how the dynamics of negative emotions-in terms of within-person baselines, variability, and diversity-might be related to general levels of emotional eating in adolescents.

Emotion Regulation Moderates the Associations of Food Parenting and Adolescent Emotional Eating

ObjectiveTo explore parental feeding practices and eating behavior as predictors of the child's emotional eating (EE) and child's emotion regulation (ER) as a potential moderator. DesignParental eating behavior (emotional, external, and restrained eating), 9 parental feeding practices (restriction, food as reward, food as ER, monitoring, healthy modeling, healthy environment, child control, and child involvement), ER, and EE were analyzed cross-sectionally and 5 parental practices longitudinally (subsample, n = 115). SettingBelgium. ParticipantsTwo hundred eighteen adolescents (aged 13.7 ± 1.77 years) and parent dyads. Main Outcome MeasuresChild's EE. AnalysisLinear regression and moderation (cross-sectional) and linear mixed models (longitudinal). Models adjusted for multiple testing with a false discovery rate of 10% (Benjamini-Hochberg), age, sex, body mass index, socioeconomic status, and cohort. ResultsCross-sectionally but not longitudinally, there was a positive association between predictors restriction and monitoring with the outcome child's EE (β = 0.19, P = 0.006; β = 0.17, P = 0.01, respectively). Restrained eating of the parent was negatively associated with the child's EE (β = −0.22, P = 0.003). The child's maladaptive ER significantly moderated the associations of 5 feeding practices and parental EE with the child's EE. Conclusions and ImplicationsParents continue to play a role in the eating behavior of their adolescent offspring, not only through their feeding practices (restrictive parenting was most detrimental) but also by displaying restrained eating (beneficial). A child's ER appears as an important moderator of the established associations; however, more research is needed to better understand these observations.

Examining the relationship between subjective wellbeing and emotional eating in adolescents in Turkey.

The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between subjective wellbeing and emotional eating in adolescents. A total of 231 high school students completed a demographic questionnaire and two scales;the emotional eating scale adapted for use in children and adolescents and the adolescent subjective wellbeing scale. The data showed negative and very weak relationships between the unsettled emotional state subscale of the emotional eating scale and the positive emotional state subscale (-0.146), the satisfaction with life subscale (-0.143), and the adolescent subjective wellbeing total score (-0.146). Adolescents' body perceptions, their family types, family income levels, and other variables had an impact on their state of subjective wellbeing, and variables such as gender and their father's level of education had an effect on their emotional eating. Emotional eating in adolescence can become a barrier to an individual's assuming future roles and responsibilities. Due to these risks, it is important to identify and reinforce the factors that help adolescents adapt and improve their subjective wellbeing.

External food cue responsiveness and emotional eating in adolescents: A multimethod study

Eating in response to external food cues (i.e., external eating) and internal emotional experiences (i.e., emotional eating) are associated with obesity. While external and emotional eating co-occur, little is known about how external food cue responsiveness may interact with internal emotional cues to influence eating episodes in adolescents. The current study examined how trait-level external food cue responsiveness modulates momentary associations between affective states and eating in adolescents. Participants were drawn from a prior study of siblings (N = 78; ages 13–17) who completed an ecological momentary assessment protocol to assess eating episodes and affective states. External food cue responsiveness was determined by comparing energy consumption following presentation of an appetizing food (pizza) on one day and a control activity (reading) on another day. Generalized linear mixed models examined positive and negative affective states, cue responsiveness, and their interactions as predictors of the likelihood of eating. The relationship between affective states and likelihood of eating was stronger among adolescents with higher versus lower external food cue responsiveness. Among adolescents with higher cue responsiveness, endorsing negative affect was associated with a lower likelihood of eating, whereas endorsing positive affect was associated with a higher likelihood of eating (within-person effects). Findings suggest that high sensitivity to external food cues and greater proclivity for emotional eating may be likely to coincide such that any cue, internal or external, is likely to disrupt sensitivity to internal hunger and satiety signals. Future studies are needed to elucidate how sensitivities to internal and external cues may interact to influence obesity risk.

The Relationship Between Covid-related Psychological Distress and Perceived Stress With Emotional Eating in Iranian Adolescents: The Mediating Role of Emotion Dysregulation

Objective: The unprecedented nature of the COVID-19 pandemic and cessation of full face-to-face affiliation along with homebound restrictions have caused a variety of psychological distress among adolescents. Adolescents vary in the way they perceive such stressors and some respond with eating disturbances, which could reflect their dysfunctional emotion regulation strategies. The present research aimed at elucidating potential mediating pathways from perceived stress and psychological distress to emotional eating. Methods: This cross-sectional study was composed of 292 adolescents who were assessed using the Perceived Stress Scale, COVID-19-Related Psychological Stress Scale, Emotional Eating subscale of the Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire, and Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale. Correlation analyses were performed to assess the relationship between variables. ANOVA was conducted to detect differences between males and females for emotional eating. Then, a mediation analysis was conducted to assess whether emotional dysregulation was a mediator between psychological distress and emotional eating. Results: Results of path analyses indicated that a model with perceived stress and psychological distress predicting emotion eating through the mediation of emotion dysregulation was the best fit for the data (CFI=0.970, GFI=0.949, df=26, χ2=53.69, χ2/df=2.06, P&gt;0.05, and RMSEA=0.069). Mediation analyses showed the mediating role of emotion dysregulation in the link between perceived stress and emotional eating (Sobel’s z=2.83, P&lt;0.05) while, it could not function as a mediator between psychological distress and emotional eating (Sobel’s z=0.90, P&gt;0.05). Conclusion: This study contributes to our understanding of the role of emotion regulation in the relationship between perceived stress and psychological distress and emotional eating in adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic. The implication of this study is for therapeutic intervention to target emotional dysregulation of adolescents confronted with COVID-19 stressors.

Moderating Effects of Parental Feeding Practices and Emotional Eating on Dietary Intake among Overweight African American Adolescents.

This study examined the effects of parental feeding practices and adolescent emotional eating (EE) on dietary outcomes among overweight African American adolescents. Based on Family Systems Theory, it was hypothesized that parental feeding practices, such as parental monitoring and responsibility, would buffer the effects of EE on poor dietary quality, whereas practices such as concern about a child’s weight, restriction, and pressure-to-eat would exacerbate this relationship. Adolescents (N = 127; Mage = 12.83 ± 1.74; MBMI% = 96.61 ± 4.14) provided baseline data from the Families Improving Together (FIT) for Weight Loss trial and an ancillary study. Dietary outcomes (fruit and vegetables (F&Vs), energy intake, sweetened beverage, total fat, and saturated fat) were assessed using random 24-h dietary recalls. Validated surveys were used to assess adolescent-reported EE and parental feeding practices. Results demonstrated a significant interaction between EE and parental monitoring (adjusted analyses; B = 0.524, SE = 0.176, p = 0.004), restriction (B = −0.331, SE = 0.162, p = 0.043), and concern (B = −0.602, SE = 0.171, p = 0.001) on F&V intake; under high monitoring, low restriction, and low concern, EE was positively associated with F&V intake. There were no significant effects for the other dietary outcomes. These findings indicate that parental feeding practices and EE may be important factors to consider for dietary interventions, specifically for F&V intake, among overweight African American adolescents.

Parent-Infant Attachment Insecurity and Emotional Eating in Adolescence: Mediation through Emotion Suppression and Alexithymia.

Emotional eating (EE), the propensity to eat in response to emotions, is thought to have its origins in the early parent–infant relationship. This study tested the hypothesis that infant attachment insecurity results in EE in adolescence through the increased use of the emotion regulation strategy suppression of emotions and subsequent alexithymia. At the age of 15 months, parent–infant attachment security (n = 129) was observed with two abbreviated attachment measures: the shortened strange situation procedure (SSSP), and the shortened attachment Q-set (S-AQS). At the age of 12 years, children completed self-report questionnaires to assess the suppression of emotions, alexithymia, and EE. At the age of 16 years, EE was measured again. The mediation models indicated that lower parent–infant attachment security predicted increased use of suppression of emotions, which was related to increased alexithymia, and in turn more EE at the age of 12 years. These results were similar and significant for both attachment measures, and also (marginal) significant with EE at the age of 16 years as an outcome. Lastly, when parental caregiving quality was included, the models with the SSSP as predictor remained significant, but the models with the S-AQS became insignificant. These results indicated that to a certain extent, infant attachment security could predict adolescent EE above and beyond parental caregiving quality.

Emotional Eating and Weight Status in Adolescents: A Systematic Review.

Background: Despite evidence that emotional eating is associated with weight gain in adults, less is known about this association in adolescents. The purpose of the current study was to conduct a systematic review to assess the association between emotional eating and weight status in adolescents. This study also sought to describe existing measures of emotional eating in adolescents and explore weight-loss interventions that assessed emotional eating in relation to weight status in this population. Methods: Two independent reviewers searched the database PubMed for published or in press peer-reviewed studies that assessed the association between emotional eating and weight status in adolescents aged 12 to 19 years. Studies were excluded from this review if they were not written in the English language, did not include a measure of emotional eating, or were a dissertation study. Results: A total of 13 studies met full inclusion criteria and were included in the systematic review. Of the six longitudinal studies in the review, only one found a prospective association between emotional eating and weight status. The Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire was the most widely used measure of emotional eating in the systematic review (n = 6; 46.2%). The one intervention study included in this review found that baseline emotional eating was not associated with weight outcomes 2 years following gastric bypass surgery in obese Swedish adolescents (13–18 years). Conclusions: While there were some inconsistent findings across the studies included in this review, taken as a whole, the results largely do not support an association between emotional eating and elevated weight status or reduced weight loss in adolescents.

Metacognitive beliefs and emotional eating in adolescents.

Metacognition refers to how people think about their own thoughts. Existing studies have found that compared to healthy controls, individuals with eating disorders manifest elevated levels of dysfunctional metacognitive beliefs. No studies to date have investigated what role metacognitive beliefs play in the manifestation of emotional eating, a well-known risk factor for the development of eating disorders. The purpose of the current study was to assess the associations between metacognitive beliefs and emotional eating in a community sample of adolescents. Participants were 135 middle school students (Mean age = 13.62years; SD = 0.57) who completed the Emotional Eating Scale Adapted for Children and Adolescents-Short-Form, Metacognition Questionnaire for Children, Positive and Negative Affect Schedule for Children, and a demographic questionnaire. Participants classified as high emotional eaters reported statistically significant higher negative metacognitive beliefs (Mean = 15.56; SD = 4.22) compared to participants classified as low emotional eaters (Mean = 12.85; SD = 4.31; p ≤ 0.001; t = - 3.69). There was a significant positive association between emotional eating and negative metacognitive beliefs in the hierarchical multiple linear regression analysis (standardized beta coefficient = 0.25; p < 0.05) after controlling for socio-demographic variables and negative affect. The current findings provide preliminary evidence that negative metacognitive beliefs may play a role in the manifestation of emotional eating in adolescents. Future prospective studies are needed to elucidate the temporal associations between emotional eating and negative metacognitive beliefs in this population. Level III, case-control analytic study.

Emotional Eating in Adolescence: Effects of Emotion Regulation, Weight Status and Negative Body Image.

Emotional eating is associated with an increased risk of binge eating, eating in the absence of hunger and obesity risk. While previous studies with children and adolescents suggest that emotion regulation may be a key predictor of this dysregulated eating behavior, little is known about what other factors may be influencing the link between emotional regulation and emotional eating in adolescence. This multi-method longitudinal study (n = 138) utilized linear regression models to examine associations between childhood emotion regulation, adolescent weight status and negative body image, and emotional eating at age 17. Emotion regulation predicted adolescent emotional eating and this link was moderated by weight status (β = 1.19, p < 0.01) and negative body image (β = −0.34, p < 0.01). Higher engagement in emotional eating was predicted by lower emotional regulation scores among normal-weight teens (β = −0.46, p < 0.001) but not among overweight/obese teens (β = 0.32, p > 0.10). Higher scores on emotion regulation were significantly associated with lower emotional eating at high (β = −1.59, p < 0.001) and low (β = −1.00, p < 0.01) levels of negative body image. Engagement in emotional eating was predicted by higher negative body image among overweight/obese teens only (β = 0.70, p < 0.001). Our findings show that while better childhood emotion regulation skills are associated with lower emotional eating, weight status and negative body image influence this link and should be considered as important foci in future interventions that aim to reduce emotional eating in adolescence.

Emotional eating: Really hungry or just angry?

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of parenting styles and academic self-efficacy on emotional eating behaviours within a sample of adolescents. The sample of this cross-sectionally designed study consisted of 584 adolescents between the ages of 12-17years. In order to collect necessary data, the Emotional Eating Scale for Child and Adolescent, the Parenting Style Scale and Academic Self-efficacy Scale were utilized. In this sample, Emotional Eating Scale's total score of girls was higher than boys, and emotional eating was not related to body mass index. Parenting styles and academic self-efficacy predicted 34% of the variants seen in emotional eating behaviours of adolescents. While a positive relation existed between emotional eating and negligent parenting style, a negative significant relation occurred between permissive and democratic type of parenting styles and emotional eating. In addition, emotional eating behaviours decreased, whereas academic self-efficacy perception increased accordingly. The results showed that emotional eating behaviours of adolescents were in relation with parenting styles and academic self-efficacy. A good understanding of the multifactorial structure of emotional eating in adolescents will help to develop essential programmes in order to design effective coping mechanisms.