Premium
Extreme psychological stress and changes in food intake
Author(s) -
Jahns Lisa,
Epel Elissa,
Adam Tanja,
Sieber Jessica
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.21.5.a116-b
Subject(s) - stress (linguistics) , disordered eating , perceived stress scale , psychology , young adult , demography , eating disorders , medicine , clinical psychology , developmental psychology , philosophy , linguistics , sociology
Objective: The purpose of this research was to examine differences in self‐reported stress‐eating tendencies (more‐eaters, less‐eaters, no change) under moderate vs. extremely stressful circumstances, and whether this varies by sex. Methods: A sample of 1,063 18–19 yo young adults participated in a web‐based survey of health behaviors prior to entering college (58% women, 86% white). Participants responded to two 5‐point scale items: “How do you tend to eat on days when you feel; 1) moderately or 2) extremely stressed”. Results: Overall, on moderate stress days, 20% of the sample tended to eat more, and 20% ate less. Large sex differences existed, as 75% of men reported no change, compared to only 50% of women. Under extreme stress, food intake becomes more disrupted, especially for women, 42% reported eating less, and 44% reported eating more. Conclusions: We observed large sex differences in self‐reported stress eating, particularly under extreme stress. This is consistent with prior findings that women tend to overeat more often than men (44% vs. 22%). Surprisingly, a similar proportion of women (42%) reported eating less during stress, rather than more. Eating less is likely a marker of a strong physiological stress response which may be partly explained by individual and sex differences in the biology of stress, and the meaning of food and weight.