Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing, China.
Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality (Ministry of Education), Southwest University, Chongqing, China.
Appl Psychol Health Well Being. 2022 Feb;14(1):64-80. doi: 10.1111/aphw.12291. Epub 2021 Jul 15.
China was a major hotspot during the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Several studies have reported changes in residents' eating behaviors and appetite during city wide lockdowns and home confinements. However, few have investigated how neuroticism interacts with the impact of COVID-19 to influence eating behaviors during city lockdowns. Thus, the current study aims to establish a pathway model to understand social media exposure, negative affect, neuroticism, and their interaction with eating behaviors during the COVID-19 lockdowns. We present data from 1,128 participants (Mage = 24.34 ± 10.48 years) who completed an online survey between February 17 and 27, 2020. The extent of respondents' social media exposure, negative affect, eating behaviors, and desire for high-calorie food during city lockdowns, as well as the personality trait of neuroticism, were measured. Results show that city lockdowns and home confinements had a negative impact on residents' eating behaviors and appetite. Forty-eight percent of respondents showed moderate to constant emotional overeating, and respondents' desire for high-calorie food significantly increased. Correlation analysis showed that emotional overeating is positively associated with social media exposure, neuroticism, and anxiety. Then, a moderated mediation model was established, showing that heavy social media exposure could lead to emotional overeating through anxiety, and the association between social media exposure and anxiety varies depending on the extent of neuroticism. The current study provides novel insight into how the interaction of a personality trait and the stressful situation of COVID-19 influence people's negative emotions and eating behaviors.
中国是 COVID-19 大流行初期的一个主要热点地区。几项研究报告称，在全市范围的封锁和居家隔离期间，居民的饮食习惯和食欲发生了变化。然而，很少有研究调查神经质如何与 COVID-19 的影响相互作用，从而影响城市封锁期间的饮食行为。因此，本研究旨在建立一个路径模型，以了解社交媒体暴露、负性情绪、神经质以及它们与 COVID-19 封锁期间饮食行为的相互作用。我们展示了来自 1128 名参与者（Mage=24.34±10.48 岁）的数据，他们于 2020 年 2 月 17 日至 27 日之间完成了一项在线调查。调查测量了受访者在城市封锁期间的社交媒体暴露程度、负性情绪、饮食行为以及对高热量食物的渴望，以及神经质这一人格特质。结果表明，城市封锁和居家隔离对居民的饮食行为和食欲产生了负面影响。48%的受访者表现出中度到持续的情绪性暴饮暴食，并且受访者对高热量食物的渴望显著增加。相关分析表明，情绪性暴饮暴食与社交媒体暴露、神经质和焦虑呈正相关。然后，建立了一个有调节的中介模型，表明过度的社交媒体暴露会通过焦虑导致情绪性暴饮暴食，而社交媒体暴露和焦虑之间的关联取决于神经质的程度。本研究为神经质这一人格特质与 COVID-19 的压力情境相互作用如何影响人们的负性情绪和饮食行为提供了新的见解。
