Emotional eating and eating psychopathology in nonclinical groups: a cross-cultural comparison of women in Japan and the United Kingdom.
OBJECTIVE
Emotional eating is associated with eating psychopathology among Western populations. It is not known whether the same conclusions hold in non-Western cultures, where norms for emotional expression differ. This study examined whether emotional eating has the same eating psychopathology correlates in different cultures.


METHODS
Three groups of nonclinical women were compared-Japanese living in Japan; Japanese living in the United Kingdom; and British living in the United Kingdom. They completed an Emotional Eating Scale and the Eating Disorders Inventory.


RESULTS
There were different patterns of association between emotional eating and eating attitudes in the three groups. British women showed a strong linkage, Japanese women living in Japan showed no association, and Japanese women in the United Kingdom showed an intermediate pattern.


CONCLUSIONS
Emotional eating may be less of an index of eating psychopathology in non-Western cultures. However, there appears to be an acculturative process, linking the two when one enters a Western culture. This cross-cultural difference may have implications for the targeting of therapies, although this conclusion requires support from further research.
Waller
G
G
Department of Psychology, University of Southampton, Southampton, United Kingdom.
Matoba
M
M
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000339:Affect; D015992:Body Mass Index; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D003469:Culture; D001068:Feeding and Eating Disorders / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000208:ethnology*; D012647:Self-Assessment; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D006113:United Kingdom