Body-related predictors of depression: a cross-sectional study among adults during COVID-19

The aim of our study was to identify body-related predictors (quality of life, negative emotions, body dissatisfaction) of depression during the COVID-19 pandemic while controlling for sex, age and BMI. Participants (N = 167, Mage = 37.70 years ± 11.37) completed: the Beck Depression Inventory-II, the Body Image Quality of Life Inventory, the short form of the Situational Inventory of Body Image Dysphoria, the Contour Drawing Rating Scale and the socio-demographic survey. Body-related quality of life had the most credible and negative association among the included predictors. Body-related negative emotions and body dissatisfaction were both positively and credibly related, with similar strength. Our outcomes mean that body image attitudes and emotions, and the extent to which these impact on quality of life during COVID-19 are important in predicting the level of depression symptoms. Expanding the scope of knowledge in this field will help to understand the mechanisms generating relationships between depression and body image, especially in the context of the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and will allow for more effective assistance in the treatment of depression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Advances in Mental Health is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The role of body mass index, healthy eating-related apps and educational activities on eating motives and behaviours among women during the COVID-19 pandemic: A cross sectional study.

The COVID-19 related lockdown made it much more difficult for people to control their eating behaviours and body weight with the methods and means they had used before. This is reflected in reports that show that eating behaviours deteriorated significantly during the COVID-19 pandemic (including in Poland). Therefore, it is important to determine what factors may be conducive to healthy eating behaviours among people with different BMI. As previous studies show, the use of healthy eating related-apps and training programs may be a protective factor against the development of unhealthy eating behaviours. Therefore, it is worth checking whether their action will be a protective factor during COVID-19. The aim of this cross sectional study was to analyse whether the current use of healthy eating-related apps and previous participation in training in this field (educational activities) as well as body mass index may play a role in eating motives and behaviours among women during COVID-19. Our final sample included 1,447 women (age: M = 31.34 ± 11.05). Participants completed: the Eating Motivation Survey, the Emotional Overeating Questionnaire, the Mindful Eating Questionnaire, socio-demographic survey and questions about healthy eating-related apps and training (educational activities). Referring to the selected significant results, our study shows that during COVID-19, the use of healthy eating-related apps alone, as well as the use of apps and prior training participation promote healthy eating motives and behaviours. It suggests that promoting the use of healthy eating applications and the acquisition of knowledge and skills in this field could be one way of shaping resources that can be effectively used to deal with crisis situations.

Do COVID-19-Related Stress, Being Overweight, and Body Dissatisfaction Contribute to More Disordered Eating in Polish Women?-A Cluster Analysis Approach.

We hypothesized that women who are overweight, experiencing COVID-19-related stress, and with high body dissatisfaction would have significantly greater disordered eating than those of healthy weight, without stress, and with low body dissatisfaction. Participants (N = 1354 women; Mage= 31.89 years, SD = 11.14) filled in the Contour Drawing Rating Scale, the Emotional Overeating Questionnaire, the Eating Motivation Survey, the Mindful Eating Questionnaire, and a COVID-19-related stress measure and sociodemographic survey. The cluster analysis technique revealed four distinct clusters: (a) Cluster 1 (N = 314): healthy body weight, no COVID-related stress, and low body dissatisfaction (M = 1.19); (b) Cluster 2 (N = 131): overweight, no COVID-related stress, and high body dissatisfaction (M = 2.41); (c) Cluster 3 (N = 597): healthy body weight, COVID-related stress, and low body dissatisfaction (M = 1.27); (d) Cluster 4 (N = 312): overweight, COVID-related stress, and high body dissatisfaction (M = 2.84). Generally, our outcomes partially support our hypothesis, as higher levels of some types of disordered eating were observed in women who were overweight with COVID-related stress and high body dissatisfaction (Cluster 4) as compared with women with healthy body weight, no COVID-related stress, and with low levels of body dissatisfaction (Cluster 1). Our results indicate that both body weight status, as well as COVID-19-related stress and body dissatisfaction, may contribute to the intensity of disordered eating. During future epidemic-related quarantines, this may be an argument in favor of organizing support regarding emotional functioning, body image, and eating behaviors, particularly for the most vulnerable groups-including overweight and obese women.

Comparison of Food-Based and Music-Based Regulatory Strategies for (Un)Healthy Eating, Depression, Anxiety and Stress.

There are many ways to regulate emotions. People use both adaptive (e.g., regulation by music) and maladaptive (e.g., regulation by food) strategies to do this. We hypothesized that participants with a high level of food-based regulatory strategies and a low level of music-based regulatory strategies (a group with the least adaptive form of emotion regulation) would have significantly greater levels of unhealthy eating behaviours, depression, anxiety and stress, as well as a significantly lower level of healthy eating behaviours than those with a low level of food-based regulatory strategies and a high level of music-based regulatory strategies (a group with the greatest adaptive form of emotion regulation). Participants (N = 410; Mage = 31.77, SD = 13.53) completed: the Brief Music in Mood Regulation Scale, the Emotional Overeating Questionnaire, the Healthy and Unhealthy Eating Behavior Scale, the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale and a socio-demographic survey. The four clusters were identified: (a) Cluster 1 (N = 148): low food-based regulatory strategies and high music-based regulatory strategies; (b) Cluster 2 (N = 42): high food-based regulatory strategies and high music-based regulatory strategies; (c) Cluster 3 (N = 70): high food-based regulatory strategies and low music-based regulatory strategies; (d) Cluster 4 (N = 150): low food-based regulatory strategies and low music-based regulatory strategies. Overall, our outcomes partially support our hypothesis, as higher levels of unhealthy eating behaviours, depression, anxiety and stress were observed in participants with high food-based and low music-based regulatory strategies as compared with adults with low food-based and high music-based regulatory strategies. To sum up, the results obtained indicate that during the COVID-19 pandemic the group of people regulating their emotional state and unhealthy eating predominantly with food is potentially characterized by worse functioning than the group of people regulating with music. Therefore, it can be concluded that people who regulate their functioning using food should be included in preventive measures by specialists. During the visit, psychologists and primary care physicians can ask patients about their daily strategies and based on this information specialists can estimate the potential risk of developing high levels of stress and anxiety, depressive disorders and unhealthy eating habits and provide specific (match) intervention.

A preliminary study of body image and depression among adults during COVID-19: A moderation model.

BACKGROUND: Since many aspects of functioning can affect body image, the aim of our study was to assess whether the relationship between body image-related negative emotions or depression and body dissatisfaction was moderated by body image-related quality of life and to compare these analyses among participants with various body mass index during COVID-19. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: One hundred and thirty-one adults participated in the study. Measurement tools included the Body Image Quality of Life Inventory, the short form of the Situational Inventory of Body-Image Dysphoria, the Beck Depression Inventory-II and the Contour Drawing Scale. RESULTS: The effects of body image-related negative emotions or depression on body dissatisfaction is moderated by body image-related quality of life, but only among obese participants. CONCLUSION: Treatment of obese patients should focus on improving quality of life related to body image, while managing negative emotions and body dissatisfaction.

Eating Motives and Other Factors Predicting Emotional Overeating during COVID-19 in a Sample of Polish Adults.

We hypothesised that the higher levels of emotion-related predictors (eating motive in the form of affect regulation and COVID-19-related stress) would be associated with higher emotional overeating, after accounting for the effects of demographic variables (gender and BMI) and other eating motives (visual- and attitude-related predictors: liking, pleasure, visual appeal; body- and health-related predictors: need and hunger, health, weight control). Participants (N = 868; Mage = 33.53 years, SD = 11.98) completed: the Eating Motivation Survey, the Emotional Overeating Questionnaire, a COVID-19-related stress measure and a socio-demographic survey. The final step of the regression with emotional overeating was significant; affect regulation and COVID-19-related stress were significantly related to emotional overeating (ΔF p < 0.001, Adj. ΔR2 = 0.13). During the COVID-19 pandemic, eating can, on the one hand, help to cope with the current difficult situation and the negative emotions associated with it; on the other hand, frequent use of this tendency can lead to rigid regulation of affect and use of this mechanism as the dominant mechanism. Therefore, limited social contact, related disruptions in daily activities and stress resulting from COVID-19 should generate appropriate interventions, not necessarily focusing only on emotional eating, but also on the resources of the individual. It is worth encouraging specialists to implement alternative methods of contact with their patients, e.g., online.

COVID-19-Related Stress and Anxiety, Body Mass Index, Eating Disorder Symptomatology, and Body Image in Women from Poland: A Cluster Analysis Approach.

To limit the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), many countries have introduced mandated lockdown or social distancing measures. Although these measures may be successful against COVID-19 transmission, the pandemic and attendant restrictions are a source of chronic and severe stress and anxiety which may contribute to the emergence or worsening of symptoms of eating disorders and the development of negative body image. Therefore, in this study, we aimed to: (1) classify different conditions associated with COVID-19-related stress, COVID-19-related anxiety, and weight status; and (2) analyze and compare the severity of dimensions typically related to eating disorders symptomatology and body image in individuals with different COVID-19-related stress, COVID-19-related anxiety, and weight status. Polish women (N = 671, Mage = 32.50 ± 11.38) completed measures of COVID-19-related stress and anxiety along with body dissatisfaction, drive for thinness, and bulimia symptomatology subscales of the Eating Disorders Inventory, and the appearance evaluation, overweight preoccupation, and body areas satisfaction subscales of the Multidimensional Body-Self Relations Questionnaire. The following four clusters were identified through cluster analysis: (a) Cluster 1 (N = 269), healthy body weight and low COVID-related stress (M = 3.06) and anxiety (M = 2.96); (b) Cluster 2 (N = 154), healthy body weight and high COVID-related stress (M = 5.43) and anxiety (M = 5.29); (c) Cluster 3 (N = 127), excess body weight and high COVID-related stress (M = 5.23) and anxiety (M = 5.35); (d) Cluster 4 (N = 121), excess body weight and low COVID-related stress (M = 2.69) and anxiety (M = 2.83). Our results showed that Clusters 3 and 4 had significantly greater body dissatisfaction and lower appearance evaluation and body areas satisfaction than Clusters 1 and 2. Cluster 3 also had a significantly higher level of drive for thinness, bulimia, and overweight preoccupation than Clusters 1 and 2. These preliminary findings may mean that the COVID-19 pandemic and attendant anxiety and stress caused by the pandemic are exacerbating symptoms of eating disorders and negative body image, with women with excess weight particularly at risk.