| dc.description | Background: During this past two years, COVID-19 has had an immense impact on the way we live our daily lives. Previous studies have established that eating behaviors are often modulated by disinhibition of eating restraints and body image dissatisfaction, often rooting from social media. This study was designed to track changes in emotional eating in college students during the pandemic.
Methods: 328 participants, 111 male and 217 female, across the Spring 2021, Fall 2021, and Spring 2022 semester completed the online Eating Habits Questionnaire for the study through the Vanderbilt Psychology department’s SONA system to measure Emotional eating, Weight dissatisfaction, COVID-19 Poor eating, COVID-19 Negative Emotions, Dietary restraint, Change in weight, and Body image.
Results: More than half of the participants indicated that Emotional eating was a moderate or large problem for them. There was a significant temporal trend found for COVID-19 Poor eating and COVID-19 Negative emotions, with lower numbers during the Fall 2021 semester. COVID-19 Poor eating and Body image were significant predictors of Emotional eating.
Conclusion: With the COVID-19 and emotional eating relationship established, there will need to be further studies regarding this matter for colleges to implement measures to help students improve their relationship with food. | en_US |
