Premium
Emotional eating: A treatment‐worthy construct, or artifact of relations between mood and eating behaviors in younger and older women with obesity
Author(s) -
Annesi James J.,
Johnson Ping H.
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
scandinavian journal of psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.743
H-Index - 72
eISSN - 1467-9450
pISSN - 0036-5564
DOI - 10.1111/sjop.12685
Subject(s) - mood , anger , psychology , emotional eating , anxiety , physical activity , obesity , clinical psychology , developmental psychology , eating behavior , medicine , psychiatry , physical therapy
Emotional eating (EE) is considered important for controlling weight, especially in women; however, it might be affected by age. Within a recently proposed model assessing theoretical paths from physical activity to changes in psychological variables and then eating behavior and weight, it was unclear if EE was a construct requiring specific treatment attention or if attending to effects of physical activity‐induced mood changes on eating was sufficient. Women with obesity of >35 years‐of‐age ( n = 100) and ≤35 years ( n = 44) participated in a behavioral weight loss treatment and were assessed on psychological factors and physical activity and eating behaviors over 6 months. At baseline, the younger group demonstrated significantly higher scores on physical activity and depression, and significantly lower scores on fruit/vegetable intake. Improvements in Tension (i.e., anxiety), Overall Negative Mood, and dimensions of EE from baseline–Month 3 were significantly greater in the younger group. Similar significant improvements in physical activity and the intake of sweets and fruits/vegetables over 6 months were observed in both groups. Incorporating aggregated data, change in physical activity was significantly related to mood improvements. With the exception of EE related to Anger/Frustration, changes in dimensions of EE and Overall EE significantly mediated the prediction of sweets and fruit/vegetable intake by corresponding dimensions of mood and Overall Mood. Age group significantly moderated embedded relationships between changes in Overall EE and EE‐Anxiety and change in fruit/vegetable intake, with the older age group having stronger relations. Findings suggest that EE is a construct requiring distinct attention within behavioral obesity treatments.