Emotional eating and its effect on eating behaviour after a natural disaster

Abstract

Emotional eaters are hypothesised to overeat in response to negative emotions or stress. However, the empirical evidence for such a moderating role is mixed. This study examined the effect of emotional eating on eating behaviour before and after the occurrence of a natural disaster (an earthquake) in a sample of predominantly middle-aged and older women. As expected, women who scored high on emotional eating reported an increase in overeating after the earthquake. This effect was qualified by an interaction: emotional eaters who reported high levels of post-earthquake distress reported an increase in overeating, whereas non-stressed emotional eaters and non-emotional eaters did not.