The validity of the Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire: some critical remarks.

Recent debate has considered the validity of self-reports and laboratory-based behavioral measures of emotional eating. This paper reviews the literature on self-reported emotional eating and actual eating behavior (i.e., examines the concurrent validity). As detailed in the review, the literature suggests mixed findings on the correspondence between these self-reports and actual eating behavior. Based on this, we cite characteristics of studies that support the concurrent validity of the DEBQ and address possible reasons for the lack of concurrent validity in other studies, as well as concerns about the measurement of emotional eating in the laboratory. Two reasons for the lack of concurrent validity of self-report emotional eating scales identified in this review include (1) methodological/experimental design flaws and (2) the variability of emotional eating based on participant characteristics. We argue that further research on emotional eating needs to address factors related to self-reports of emotional eating and objective emotional eating behavior (e.g., negative affect, inaccurate recall of eating behaviors, sample differences, and laboratory design). We conclude with recommendations for future research on emotional eating.

Coping responses as mediators in the relationship between perceived weight stigma and depression.

The prejudice and discrimination that overweight and obese individuals experience as a result of their weight (i.e. weight stigma) often leads to psychological consequences, such as depression. The present study examined whether coping with stigmatizing experiences mediated the relationship between perceived weight stigma and depression among overweight/obese treatment seeking adults. Fifty-four overweight and obese (mean BMI=37.2) weight loss treatment seeking participants (87.3% Caucasian, 79.6% female) participated in the study. Results from this study indicate that greater stigmatizing experiences were significantly related to depression. Both adaptive and maladaptive coping significantly mediated the relationship between weight stigma and depression. Surprisingly however, greater adaptive coping was positively related to depression. Coping responses appear to mediate the association between experiencing bias and discrimination because of one's weight and adverse psychological outcomes. Results suggest that obese individuals are at considerable risk for psychological complications secondary to weight-based mistreatment by others and their responses to cope with the mistreatment.