Description
Childhood obesity is associated with many well established health risks as well as high annual public health costs. Because of this, the childhood obesity literature has highlighted the need to detect at-risk groups in order to implement targeted preventions. Emotional eating has been identified as an unhealthy behavior and a risk factor for overweight status among children though very little is known about what predisposes children to emotionally eat. Stress has often been found to elicit emotional eating but most studies looking at this relationship have relied on self-reports in adult and clinical samples. Thus, the current study seeks to investigate the relationship between stress reactivity (measured using heart rate variability) and emotional eating in a sample of 247 children between the ages of 4-6. Furthermore, levels of control may moderate the relationship between stress reactivity (HRV) and emotional eating. Linear regression analysis was used to explore these relationships. It was expected that higher levels of reactivity to stress would predict an increased likelihood of emotional eating. This association was expected to be attenuated among children with higher levels of inhibitory control and attentional focusing as well as lower levels of impulsivity. However, the hypothesized findings were not supported by the data. Despite these null findings, and in light of several limitations, it is still hypothesized that emotional eating involves physiological and impulsivity/effortful control processes. Implications of future research are discussed.
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Details
Title
- Stress reactivity as a predictor of emotional eating
Contributors
- Ohrt, Tara K (Author)
- Perez La Mar, Marisol (Thesis advisor)
- Luecken, Linda (Committee member)
- Lemery, Kathryn (Committee member)
- Arizona State University (Publisher)
Date Created
The date the item was original created (prior to any relationship with the ASU Digital Repositories.)
2016
Subjects
Resource Type
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Note
- thesisPartial requirement for: M.A., Arizona State University, 2016
- bibliographyIncludes bibliographical references (pages (40-49)
- Field of study: Psychology
Citation and reuse
Statement of Responsibility
by Tara K. Ohrt