Emotional eating: Not the emotion but its regulation explains subsequent eating behavior
Year: 2008
Type: dissertation
Abstract: Emotional eating is the tendency to overeat in response to negative affect. While it is a \ncommonly accepted term, evidence that nonclinical populations increase food intake after \nexperiencing negative emotions remains unconvincing. The current study addresses the \nhypothesis that emotional eating is not caused by negative emotions per se, but rather by \nthe manner in which these emotions are regulated. To test this, negative emotions were \ninduced in 44 women. Half the participants were asked to suppress these emotions, while \nthe other half had to reappraise the emotions. Subsequently, all participants did a taste \ntest where the amount of food eaten was unobtrusively measured. Results showed that \nemotion experience by itself had no influence on food intake. However, participants who \nhad to suppress the expression of their emotions ate more in the taste test than \nreappraisers, but only of so-called comfort foods (high-calorie, palatable food types). It \ncan be concluded that the strategy employed to regulate one’s negative emotions can \ninfluence subsequent eating behavior. Implications for the conceptualization and possible \ntreatment of emotional eating are discussed.
Author: F. Marijn Stok
Language: English
Subfield: Clinical Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W120084670