IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v18y2021i4p1744-d497554.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Emotional Eating in Adults: The Role of Sociodemographics, Lifestyle Behaviors, and Self-Regulation—Findings from a U.S. National Study

Author

Listed:
  • Roni Elran Barak

    (School of Public Health, Faculty of Social Welfare and Health Sciences, University of Haifa, Haifa 3498838, Israel
    Drs. Elran Barak and Shuval share first authorship.)

  • Kerem Shuval

    (School of Public Health, Faculty of Social Welfare and Health Sciences, University of Haifa, Haifa 3498838, Israel
    The Cooper Institute, Dallas, TX 75230, USA
    Drs. Elran Barak and Shuval share first authorship.)

  • Qing Li

    (American Cancer Society, Atlanta, GA 30303, USA)

  • Reid Oetjen

    (Department of Health Management & Informatics, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL 32816, USA)

  • Jeffrey Drope

    (School of Public Health, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL 60612, USA)

  • Amy L. Yaroch

    (Gretchen Swanson Center for Nutrition, Omaha, NE 68114, USA)

  • Bob M. Fennis

    (Department of Marketing, University of Groningen, 9747AE Groningen, The Netherlands)

  • Matthew Harding

    (Department of Economics, University of California- Irvine, Irvine, CA 92617, USA)

Abstract

Background: Emotional eating, the tendency to overeat in response to negative emotions, has been linked to weight gain. However, scant evidence exists examining the prevalence and correlates of emotional eating among large samples of adults in the United States (U.S.). Hence, we examine the relationship among individual and socioeconomic factors, health behaviors, and self-regulation with emotional eating patterns among U.S. adults. Methods: Cross-sectional analysis of 5863 Family Health Habits Survey participants. Multivariable, ordered, logistic regression was employed to examine the relationship between the frequency of the desire to eat when emotionally upset (never, rarely, sometimes, often, and very often) and the independent variables. Results: Analysis reveals that 20.5% of the sample tended to emotionally eat often or very often. Being female, non-Hispanic White, and of younger age were all related to a higher likelihood of emotional eating. Additionally, inability to delay gratification (impatience) was related to an 18% increased likelihood (95% confidence interval (CI) 1.05–1.33) for emotional eating. Finally, emotional eating was significantly related to more frequent fast-food consumption. Conclusions: Program planners might need to develop targeted interventions aimed at enhancing emotional regulation skills while addressing these less healthful behaviors (e.g., fast-food intake) with the goal of obesity and chronic disease prevention.

Suggested Citation

  • Roni Elran Barak & Kerem Shuval & Qing Li & Reid Oetjen & Jeffrey Drope & Amy L. Yaroch & Bob M. Fennis & Matthew Harding, 2021. "Emotional Eating in Adults: The Role of Sociodemographics, Lifestyle Behaviors, and Self-Regulation—Findings from a U.S. National Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(4), pages 1-10, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:4:p:1744-:d:497554
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/4/1744/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/4/1744/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Glenn W. Harrison & Morten I. Lau & Melonie B. Williams, 2002. "Estimating Individual Discount Rates in Denmark: A Field Experiment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 92(5), pages 1606-1617, December.
    2. de Oliveira, Angela C.M. & Leonard, Tammy C.M. & Shuval, Kerem & Skinner, Celette Sugg & Eckel, Catherine & Murdoch, James C., 2016. "Economic preferences and obesity among a low-income African American community," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 131(PB), pages 196-208.
    3. Stoklosa, Michal & Shuval, Kerem & Drope, Jeffrey & Tchernis, Rusty & Pachucki, Mark & Yaroch, Amy & Harding, Matthew, 2018. "The intergenerational transmission of obesity: The role of time preferences and self-control," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 28(C), pages 92-106.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Anca Bacârea & Vladimir Constantin Bacârea & Florin Buicu & Călin Crăciun & Bianca Kosovski & Raquel Guiné & Monica Tarcea, 2023. "Emotional Eating Sustainability in Romania—A Questionnaire-Based Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-10, February.
    2. Hyo-Jeong Hwang & Yean-Jung Choi & Dongwan Hong, 2022. "The Association between Self-Rated Health Status, Psychosocial Stress, Eating Behaviors, and Food Intake According to the Level of Sunlight Exposure in Korean Adults," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(1), pages 1-13, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Pastore, Chiara & Schurer, Stefanie & Tymula, Agnieszka & Fuller, Nicholas & Caterson, Ian, 2020. "Economic Preferences and Obesity: Evidence from a Clinical Lab-in-Field Experiment," IZA Discussion Papers 13915, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. Stoklosa, Michal & Shuval, Kerem & Drope, Jeffrey & Tchernis, Rusty & Pachucki, Mark & Yaroch, Amy & Harding, Matthew, 2018. "The intergenerational transmission of obesity: The role of time preferences and self-control," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 28(C), pages 92-106.
    3. repec:zbw:rwirep:0557 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Lex Borghans & Angela Lee Duckworth & James J. Heckman & Bas ter Weel, 2008. "The Economics and Psychology of Personality Traits," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 43(4).
    5. Marieka M. Klawitter & C. Leigh Anderson & Mary Kay Gugerty, 2013. "Savings And Personal Discount Rates In A Matched Savings Program For Low-Income Families," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 31(3), pages 468-485, July.
    6. Oswald, Yvonne & Backes-Gellner, Uschi, 2014. "Learning for a bonus: How financial incentives interact with preferences," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 52-61.
    7. Ehmke, Mariah & Lusk, Jayson & Tyner, Wallace, 2010. "Multidimensional tests for economic behavior differences across cultures," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 39(1), pages 37-45, January.
    8. Yayan Hernuryadin & Koji Kotani & Tatsuyoshi Saijo, 2020. "Time Preferences of Food Producers: Does “Cultivate and Grow” Matter?," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 96(1), pages 132-148.
    9. Bellemare, C. & Kroger, S. & van Soest, A.H.O., 2005. "Actions and Beliefs : Estimating Distribution-Based Preferences Using a Large Scale Experiment with Probability Questions on Expectations," Other publications TiSEM eff984e1-7232-4134-be27-a, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    10. Kesternich, Iris & Schumacher, Heiner & Siflinger, Bettina & Valder, Franziska, 2022. "Reservation wages and labor supply," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 194(C), pages 583-607.
    11. Teh, Louise S.L. & Teh, Lydia C.L. & Rashid Sumaila, U., 2014. "Time preference of small-scale fishers in open access and traditionally managed reef fisheries," Marine Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 222-231.
    12. Meier, Stephan & Sprenger, Charles D., 2013. "Discounting financial literacy: Time preferences and participation in financial education programs," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 159-174.
    13. Jindrich Matousek & Tomas Havranek & Zuzana Irsova, 2022. "Individual discount rates: a meta-analysis of experimental evidence," Experimental Economics, Springer;Economic Science Association, vol. 25(1), pages 318-358, February.
    14. Bellemare, Charles & Kroger, Sabine, 2007. "On representative social capital," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 51(1), pages 183-202, January.
    15. Meyer, Andrew G., 2015. "The impacts of elicitation mechanism and reward size on estimated rates of time preference," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 132-148.
    16. Enrico Diecidue & Peter Wakker & Marcel Zeelenberg, 2007. "Eliciting decision weights by adapting de Finetti’s betting-odds method to prospect theory," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 34(3), pages 179-199, June.
    17. Michele Belot & Philipp Kircher & Paul Muller, 2021. "Eliciting time preferences when income and consumption vary: Theory, validation & application to job search," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 21-013/V, Tinbergen Institute.
    18. Maarten Voors & Eleonora Nillesen & Philip Verwimp & Erwin Bulte & Robert Lensink & Daan van Soest, 2010. "Does Conflict affect Preferences? Results from Field Experiments in Burundi," HiCN Working Papers 71, Households in Conflict Network.
    19. Ardanaz, Martín & Izquierdo, Alejandro, 2017. "Current Expenditure Upswings in Good Times and Capital Expenditure Downswings in Bad Times?: New Evidence from Developing Countries," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 8558, Inter-American Development Bank.
    20. Kang, Myong-Il & Ikeda, Shinsuke, 2016. "Time discounting, present biases, and health-related behaviors: Evidence from Japan," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 21(C), pages 122-136.
    21. Ehmke, Mariah D. & Warziniack, Travis & Schroeter, Christiane & Morgan, Kari, 2008. "Applying Experimental Economics to Obesity in the Family Household," Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 40(2), pages 539-549, August.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:4:p:1744-:d:497554. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.