Paredes-Díaz Libertad, Campos-Uscanga Yolanda
Institute of Public Health, Universidad Veracruzana, Veracruz, México.
Indian J Psychiatry. 2025 Jul;67(7):685-692. doi: 10.4103/indianjpsychiatry_59_25. Epub 2025 Jul 15.
Chronic stress is a well-established factor influencing unhealthy eating behaviors. Anxiety has been linked to emotional eating and acts as a mediator between depression and body mass index. However, the interaction between negative affectivity and eating behavior may vary across different life stages, suggesting that these relationships could differ between age groups.
The study aimed to explore whether the relationship between negative affective states and eating behavior differs between young adults and middle-aged adults.
A cross-sectional study was conducted among 172 participants: 87 young adults and 85 middle-aged adults. Sociodemographic data were collected, and participants completed the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS-21), Adult Eating Behavior Questionnaire, Spanish version (AEBQ-Esp), and the Emotional Eating Scale.
Young adults exhibited significantly higher levels of negative affectivity compared to middle-aged adults (d = 0.39), although differences in eating behavior were only observed in the dimension of eating slowness (d = -0.37). A negative correlation was found between negative affectivity and the family dimension of emotional eating in young adults (r = -0.332), while a positive correlation emerged in middle-aged adults (r = 0.259). The analysis by age groups revealed distinct patterns of association between stress and dimensions of eating behavior and emotional eating, with stress showing the most robust associations.
The findings indicate that, while negative affective states are associated with emotional eating in both age groups, the nature of these associations varies significantly. In some cases, the same factor may serve as a risk factor in one age group and a protective factor in another.
慢性应激是影响不健康饮食行为的一个公认因素。焦虑与情绪化进食有关，并且在抑郁与体重指数之间起中介作用。然而，消极情感性与饮食行为之间的相互作用可能在不同生命阶段有所不同，这表明这些关系在不同年龄组之间可能存在差异。
本研究旨在探讨消极情感状态与饮食行为之间的关系在年轻人和中年人之间是否存在差异。
对172名参与者进行了一项横断面研究，其中87名年轻人和85名中年人。收集了社会人口学数据，参与者完成了抑郁焦虑压力量表（DASS-21）、成人饮食行为问卷（西班牙语版，AEBQ-Esp）和情绪化进食量表。
与中年人相比，年轻人表现出显著更高水平的消极情感性（d = 0.39），尽管仅在进食缓慢维度上观察到饮食行为的差异（d = -0.37）。在年轻人中，消极情感性与情绪化进食的家庭维度之间存在负相关（r = -0.332），而在中年人中则出现正相关（r = 0.259）。按年龄组进行的分析揭示了压力与饮食行为维度和情绪化进食之间不同的关联模式，其中压力显示出最强的关联。
研究结果表明，虽然消极情感状态在两个年龄组中均与情绪化进食有关，但这些关联的性质存在显著差异。在某些情况下，同一因素在一个年龄组中可能是危险因素，而在另一个年龄组中可能是保护因素。
