The University of Southampton
University of Southampton Institutional Repository

Eating behaviour and the role of emotions

Eating behaviour and the role of emotions
Eating behaviour and the role of emotions

It is well recognised that emotions impact on eating behaviour and that negative affect in particular can lead to overeating (i.e. stress-induced overeating), which in turn, has been implicated in the onset of obesity. Different psychological views have attempted to understand this relationship and these are reviewed in this paper, with particular emphasis placed on understanding the role of negative affect in the maintenance of overeating. There is a growing body of research suggesting that trait individual differences such as weight category, eating style (emotional, external or restrained eating) and 'sensitivity to reward' are important in moderating this stress-eating relationship. This review therefore proposes to look at the empirical evidence in order to answer several key questions: Is there a general effect of mood on eating in obese and non-obese individuals? Do trait individual differences in eating style and reward sensitivity moderate the relationship between mood and eating? Do other variables (e.g. type of food or stressor) moderate the relationship between mood and eating? The evidence suggests that the findings are mixed with regards to the importance of weight category; i.e., obesity alone does not predict vulnerability to stress-induced eating, as there is a general effect of mood on eating in non-obese individuals. Research findings are discussed which suggest that eating style, sensitivity to reward, type of stressor and type of food consumed, have importance in moderating the stress-eating relationship. However, there is ambiguity surrounding the causal nature of these relationships and there is a lack of theory- driven research, which explores the underlying mechanisms, which might moderate and maintain these relationships. Future research and clinical implications are considered in light of these findings.

University of Southampton
Hepworth, Rebecca
c82b927a-7201-42e5-a30f-7eee6314abab
Hepworth, Rebecca
c82b927a-7201-42e5-a30f-7eee6314abab

Hepworth, Rebecca (2008) Eating behaviour and the role of emotions. University of Southampton, Doctoral Thesis.

Record type: Thesis (Doctoral)

Abstract

It is well recognised that emotions impact on eating behaviour and that negative affect in particular can lead to overeating (i.e. stress-induced overeating), which in turn, has been implicated in the onset of obesity. Different psychological views have attempted to understand this relationship and these are reviewed in this paper, with particular emphasis placed on understanding the role of negative affect in the maintenance of overeating. There is a growing body of research suggesting that trait individual differences such as weight category, eating style (emotional, external or restrained eating) and 'sensitivity to reward' are important in moderating this stress-eating relationship. This review therefore proposes to look at the empirical evidence in order to answer several key questions: Is there a general effect of mood on eating in obese and non-obese individuals? Do trait individual differences in eating style and reward sensitivity moderate the relationship between mood and eating? Do other variables (e.g. type of food or stressor) moderate the relationship between mood and eating? The evidence suggests that the findings are mixed with regards to the importance of weight category; i.e., obesity alone does not predict vulnerability to stress-induced eating, as there is a general effect of mood on eating in non-obese individuals. Research findings are discussed which suggest that eating style, sensitivity to reward, type of stressor and type of food consumed, have importance in moderating the stress-eating relationship. However, there is ambiguity surrounding the causal nature of these relationships and there is a lack of theory- driven research, which explores the underlying mechanisms, which might moderate and maintain these relationships. Future research and clinical implications are considered in light of these findings.

Text
1226555.pdf - Version of Record
Available under License University of Southampton Thesis Licence.
Download (5MB)

More information

Published date: 2008

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 467114
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/467114
PURE UUID: 460bbea2-ce88-4291-abfe-475b218cf3a8

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 05 Jul 2022 08:12
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 20:59

Export record

Contributors

Author: Rebecca Hepworth

Download statistics

Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.

View more statistics

Atom RSS 1.0 RSS 2.0

Contact ePrints Soton: eprints@soton.ac.uk

ePrints Soton supports OAI 2.0 with a base URL of http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/cgi/oai2

This repository has been built using EPrints software, developed at the University of Southampton, but available to everyone to use.

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue without changing your settings, we will assume that you are happy to receive cookies on the University of Southampton website.

×