Emotional Eating and Its Relationship with Symptoms of Anxiety, Depression, and Stress During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Multicenter Study in College Students.

Emotional eating refers to overeating triggered by negative emotions, and it is common among those with mental health challenges. Academics are vulnerable to changes in eating habits and mental well-being, especially after the pandemic began. This study aimed to analyze the relationship between emotional eating and the signs and symptoms of mental disorders in undergraduates aged 18 and older. They completed a virtual questionnaire assessing emotional eating using the Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire, and mental health by a reduced version of the Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale. In this cross-sectional, multicenter survey, 8650 students (65.7% female, average age 22) participated, with a median body mass index of 23.3 kg/m, and 23.8% were enrolled in health-related courses. The median emotional eating score was 44.4 (22.2-66.7), and a large proportion had symptoms of depression (73.2%), stress (68.1%), and anxiety (66.1%). Symptoms of anxiety (CI = 1.291-1.714), depression (CI = 1.469-1.983), and stress (CI = 1.483-2.006) were independently associated with higher emotional eating scores (≥66.7) in multiple regression analyses. Based on the significant associations found, the importance of integrating mental health support and intervention strategies, such as psychological counseling and nutritional guidance, to mitigate emotional eating among university students is highlighted, along with the need for future studies to explore the causal relationships.