(P11-013-24) Associations Between Emotional Eating, Psychosocial Lifestyle Factors, Obesity, and Eating Disorders

Objectives: Almost 69% of U.S. adults are overweight or obese, 60% of those individuals overconsume food as a maladaptive response to negative emotions, and 29 million Americans have disordered eating, second only to opioid-related overdoses as the mental illness with highest mortality rate. This study examines associations between emotional eating, obesity, and suspected eating disorders.

Methods: A cross-sectional study of 206 Southern California adults yielded data on participants’ emotional eating frequency, weight, and presence of a suspected eating disorder. Chi-squared tests and binomial logistic regression assessed strength of associations between all study variables.

Results: Binge eating (p = 0.04) and food addiction (p = 0.004) were positively associated with obesity among survey respondents. Emotional eating was associated with obesity (Spearman rho = 0.19, p < 0.006, n = 203), binge eating (p = 0.04), bulimia (p = 0.03), food addiction (p < 0.001), and night eating syndrome (p = 0.001). Binge eating was nonsignificant (p = 0.09) after adjusting for age, gender, and emotional eating. Positive psychology as a psychosocial lifestyle intervention was shown to be protective against emotional eating (p = 0.02) among survey respondents, as was age (p = 0.02).

Conclusions: Diet and physical activity play important roles in weight management but may be less effective when emotional eating is not assessed. Individuals with obesity and/or eating disorders would also benefit from emotional regulatory strategies.

Funding Sources: N/A