Annesi James J, Machek Steven B
Kinesiology Department, California State University, Monterey Bay, Seaside, CA 93955, USA.
Mind Body Wellbeing, LLC, Manahawkin, NJ 08050, USA.
Nutrients. 2025 Jul 29;17(15):2475. doi: 10.3390/nu17152475.
Improvements in depression and anxiety, associated with moderate increases in physical activity, might induce reductions in emotional eating, especially in women with obesity, where emotion-driven eating is highly problematic. This pilot, field-based study sought to assess whether physical activity increase, itself, primarily predicts improved mood (biochemical theories) or if psychosocial factors associated with cognitive-behavioral treatment are principal correlates (behavioral theories). An aim was to inform improved treatment processes. Women with obesity participated in 6-month community-based behavioral obesity treatments emphasizing either: (a) standard education in weight-reduction methods ( = 28), (b) eating-related self-regulation methods ( = 24), or (c) self-regulation + relaxation training ( = 24). They completed a series of behavioral and psychological self-reports at baseline and Months 3 and 6. Findings confirmed no significant difference in 3-month increases in physical activity, by group. There were significantly greater overall improvements in depression, emotional eating, self-regulation, and self-efficacy across the two self-regulation-focused groups ( < 0.02), with anxiety improvement not reaching significance ( = 0.055). Separate significant paths from 3-month changes in depression and anxiety → self-efficacy change → emotional eating change were found. The same significant path was detected emanating from 6-month anxiety change; however, the hypothesized path of 6-month changes in depression → self-regulation → self-efficacy → emotional eating was, rather, significant. Weight reduction was considerably greater in the two self-regulation-based groups (~6% reduction), with simultaneously entered changes in self-regulation and self-efficacy significant predictors of those weight changes. Findings suggested viability in behavioral theory-driven explanations of the physical activity-mood improvement relationship. Future treatment foci on self-regulatory skills development leading to improvements in eating-related self-efficacy, emotional eating, and weight were suggested to extend the findings of this pilot study.
抑郁和焦虑症状的改善与身体活动适度增加相关，这可能会减少情绪化进食，尤其是在肥胖女性中，因为情绪驱动的进食问题非常严重。这项基于实地的试点研究旨在评估身体活动的增加本身是否主要预测情绪改善（生化理论），或者与认知行为治疗相关的社会心理因素是否是主要关联因素（行为理论）。目的是为改进治疗过程提供依据。肥胖女性参加了为期6个月的社区行为肥胖治疗，治疗重点分为以下三种：（a）减肥方法的标准教育（n = 28），（b）与饮食相关的自我调节方法（n = 24），或（c）自我调节 + 放松训练（n = 24）。她们在基线、第3个月和第6个月完成了一系列行为和心理自我报告。研究结果证实，按组分类，身体活动在3个月内的增加没有显著差异。在两个以自我调节为重点的组中，抑郁、情绪化进食、自我调节和自我效能感的总体改善显著更大（p < 0.02），焦虑改善未达到显著水平（p = 0.055）。发现了从抑郁和焦虑的3个月变化→自我效能感变化→情绪化进食变化的单独显著路径。从6个月的焦虑变化中也检测到了相同的显著路径；然而，抑郁6个月变化→自我调节→自我效能感→情绪化进食的假设路径反而具有显著性。在两个基于自我调节的组中，体重减轻幅度更大（约6%），同时进入的自我调节和自我效能感变化是这些体重变化的显著预测因素。研究结果表明，行为理论驱动的身体活动与情绪改善关系解释具有可行性。建议未来的治疗重点是发展自我调节技能，以改善与饮食相关的自我效能感、情绪化进食和体重，从而扩展这项试点研究的结果。
