University of South Alabama, Department of Psychology, USA.
The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzen, Department of Psychology, China.
Appetite. 2023 Jul 1;186:106554. doi: 10.1016/j.appet.2023.106554. Epub 2023 Apr 7.
Emotional eating (EE) has been consistently associated with obesity, weight gain, and certain eating disorders (EDs). Given the cultural influence on food consumption and eating styles, comparison of EE patterns of individuals in culturally distinct nations (e.g., USA and China) could yield interesting differences in findings. However, given the increasing convergence in eating practices between the above-mentioned nations (e.g., higher reliance on outdoor eating at restaurants among Chinese adolescents), EE patterns might share significant similarities. The present study examined EE patterns of American college students and is a replication of the study done by He, Chen, Wu, Niu, and Fan (2020) on Chinese college students. Responses of 533 participants (60.4% women, 70.1% White, aged 18-52 (mean age = 18.75, SD = 1.35), mean self-reported body mass index = 24.22 kg/m and SD = 4.77) on the Adult Eating Behavior Questionnaire (Emotional overeating and emotional undereating subscales) were examined using Latent Class Analysis to identify specific patterns of EE. Participants also completed questionnaire measures of disordered eating and associated psychosocial impairment, depression, stress, and anxiety symptoms, and a measure of psychological flexibility. A solution with four classes emerged, i.e., emotional over- and undereating (18.3%), emotional overeating (18.2%), emotional undereating (27.8%), and non-emotional eating (35.7%). Current findings replicated and extended findings from He, Chen, et al. (2020) in that the emotional over- and undereating class exhibited the highest risks for depression, anxiety, stress, and psychosocial impairment due to disordered eating symptoms as well as lower psychological flexibility. Individuals who have difficulty with awareness and acceptance of their emotions appear to engage in the most problematic form of EE and could benefit from Dialectical behavior therapy and Acceptance and commitment therapy skills training.
情绪性进食（EE）一直与肥胖、体重增加和某些饮食失调（EDs）有关。考虑到文化对食物消费和饮食方式的影响，比较文化背景不同的个体（例如，美国和中国）的 EE 模式可能会发现有趣的差异。然而，鉴于上述国家的饮食行为日益趋同（例如，中国青少年越来越依赖于在餐馆户外就餐），EE 模式可能存在显著的相似之处。本研究检查了美国大学生的 EE 模式，是对 He、Chen、Wu、Niu 和 Fan（2020）对中国大学生进行的研究的复制。使用潜在类别分析对 533 名参与者（60.4%为女性，70.1%为白人，年龄 18-52 岁（平均年龄 18.75，SD 1.35），平均自我报告的体重指数为 24.22kg/m 和 SD 4.77）在成人饮食行为问卷（情绪性暴食和情绪性少食分量表）上的反应进行了检查，以确定 EE 的特定模式。参与者还完成了饮食失调和相关心理社会障碍、抑郁、压力和焦虑症状以及心理灵活性的问卷测量。出现了四个类别的解决方案，即情绪性暴食和少食（18.3%）、情绪性暴食（18.2%）、情绪性少食（27.8%）和非情绪性进食（35.7%）。目前的研究结果复制并扩展了 He、Chen 等人的研究结果（2020 年），即情绪性暴食和少食的个体由于饮食失调症状表现出最高的抑郁、焦虑、压力和心理社会障碍风险，以及较低的心理灵活性。那些难以意识到和接受自己情绪的个体似乎会采取最成问题的 EE 形式，他们可能会受益于辩证行为疗法和接受与承诺疗法技能培训。
