A Humanities-Based Explanation for the Effects of Emotional Eating and Perceived Stress on Food Choice Motives during the COVID-19 Pandemic.
Nutrients
; 12(9)2020 Sep 04.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-750644
ABSTRACT
Perceived stress affects emotional eating and food choices. However, the extent to which stress associates with food choice motives is not completely understood. This study assessed whether emotional eating mediates the associations between perceived stress levels and food choice motives (i.e., health, mood, convenience, natural content, price, sensory appeal, familiarities, weight control, and ethical concerns) during the Coronavirus Disease 2019 pandemic. A total of 800 respondents were surveyed in the United States in June 2020. Their perceived stress, emotional eating, and food choice motives were assessed by the Perceived Stress Scale, Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire, and Food Choice Questionnaire, respectively. Moderate to high levels of perceived stress were experienced by the majority (73.6%) of respondents. Perceived stress was significantly correlated with emotional eating (r = 0.26) as well as five out of nine food choice motives mood (r = 0.32), convenience (r = 0.28), natural content (r = -0.14), price (r = 0.27), and familiarity (r = 0.15). Emotional eating was significantly correlated with four out of nine food choice motives mood (r = 0.27), convenience (r = 0.23), price (r = 0.16), and familiarity (r = 0.16). The mediation analyses showed that emotional eating mediates the associations between perceived stress and five food choices motives mood, convenience, sensory appeal, price, and familiarity. Findings were interpreted using theories and concepts from the humanities, specifically, folklore studies, ritual studies, and symbolic anthropology.
Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Pneumonia, Viral
/
Stress, Psychological
/
Quarantine
/
Coronavirus Infections
/
Feeding Behavior
/
Food Preferences
Type of study:
Experimental Studies
/
Observational study
/
Randomized controlled trials
Limits:
Adult
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
/
Middle aged
Country/Region as subject:
North America
Language:
English
Year:
2020
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Nu12092712
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