Eating when depressed, anxious, bored, or happy: An examination in treatment-seeking adults with overweight/obesity
Abstract
Emotions that differ in valence are uniquely associated with eating. In our previous study with an online sample of adults with overweight/obesity, eating in response to depression was the type of emotional eating most closely associated with negative psychosocial correlates (Braden et al., 2018). The current study extended this research by examining associations between emotional eating types (eating in response to depression, anxiety, boredom, happiness) and psychological correlates among treatment-seeking adults. The present study was a secondary analysis of adults (N = 63; 96.8% female) with overweight/obesity and self-identified emotional eating who completed a baseline assessment for a behavioral weight loss intervention. Emotional eating in response to depression (EE-depression), anxiety/anger (EE-anxiety/anger), and boredom (EE-boredom) were assessed with the revised Emotional Eating Scale (EES-R), and positive emotional eating (EE-positive) was assessed with the positive emotions subscale of the Emotional Appetite Questionnaire (EMAQ). The Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire (EDE-Q), Binge Eating Scale (BES), Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS), and Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9; depressive symptoms) were also administered. Frequencies showed the most endorsed emotional eating type was EE-depression (44.4%; n = 28). Four multiple regression analyses examined associations between emotional eating (EE-depression, EE-anxiety/anger, EE-boredom, and EE-positive) and dependent variables (EDE-Q, BES, DERS, and PHQ-9). Results showed that depression was the emotional eating type most closely related to disordered eating, binge eating, and depressive symptoms. Eating in response to anxiety was closely related to emotion regulation difficulties. Positive emotional eating was related to less depressive symptoms. Exploratory analyses showed that lower levels of positive emotional eating were related to higher depressive symptoms among adults with greater emotion regulation difficulties. Researchers and clinicians may consider tailoring weight loss treatment based on unique emotions that trigger eating.
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Eating in response to depression was most closely associated with higher disordered eating, binge eating, and depressive symptoms compared to other emotional eating types.
“suggesting that eating in response to depression was most closely associated with higher disordered eating, binge eating, and depressive symptoms compared to other emotional eating types [36].”
From Mindfulness facets differentially relate to self-reported negative and positive emotional eating types in treatment-seeking adults with overweight/obesity (2023) · cites this paper as [36]
In a sample of treatment-seeking adults with overweight/obesity, frequencies spanned 14.3-44.4% across emotional eating types, with eating in response to depression being the most frequently reported emotional eating type (44.4%).
“Findings suggested frequencies spanning 14.3–44.4% across emotional eating types, with eating in response to depression being the most frequently reported emotional eating type (44.4%) [36].”
From Mindfulness facets differentially relate to self-reported negative and positive emotional eating types in treatment-seeking adults with overweight/obesity (2023) · cites this paper as [36]
Eating in response to anger/anxiety was most closely associated with emotion regulation difficulties compared to other emotional eating types.
“Additional nuances from this study suggested that eating in response to anger/anxiety was most closely associated with emotion regulation difficulties compared to other emotional eating types [36].”
From Mindfulness facets differentially relate to self-reported negative and positive emotional eating types in treatment-seeking adults with overweight/obesity (2023) · cites this paper as [36]
Some negative emotional eating types (e.g., eating in response to depression) may be more strongly associated with psychopathology (e.g., disordered eating) than other types (e.g., eating in response to boredom).
“some negative emotional eating types (e.g., eating in response to depression) may be more strongly associated with psychopathology (e.g., disordered eating) than other types of negative emotional eating (e.g., eating in response to boredom) [35, 36].”
From Mindfulness facets differentially relate to self-reported negative and positive emotional eating types in treatment-seeking adults with overweight/obesity (2023) · cites this paper as [36]
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Barnhart, W. R., Kalantzis, M. A., & Braden, A. L. (2023) · Eating and Weight Disorders - Studies on Anorexia Bulimia and Obesity · doi:10.1007/s40519-023-01578-9 · Cited by 11 · see citing works
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- Authors
- Braden, A., Barnhart, W. R., Kalantzis, M., Redondo, R., Dauber, A., Anderson, L., & Tilstra-Ferrell, E. L.
- Affiliations
- Bowling Green State University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Braden, Abby
- Venue
- Appetite
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2023-05
- Volume
- 184
- Pages
- 106510
- ISSN
- 0195-6663 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W4322724369
- Cited by
- 38
- References
- 68
- Citations by year
- 2026: 12 · 2025: 9 · 2024: 10 · 2023: 7
- FWCI
- 11.09
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Licence
- Locations
- Appetite (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Eating Disorders and Behaviors
- Health Sciences › Nursing › Nutrition and Dietetics › Nutrition, Health and Food Behavior
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Obesity, Physical Activity, Diet
- Keywords
- emotional eating, overweight, obesity, depression, anxiety, boredom, happiness, binge eating, disordered eating, emotional dysregulation, depressive symptoms, weight loss treatment, treatment-seeking patients
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Anxiety, Feeding and Eating Disorders, Emotions, Female, Happiness, Humans, Male, Obesity, Surveys and Questionnaires, Weight Loss, Alkanesulfonic Acids, Overweight
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