title: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Canterbury, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch 8140, New Zealand. roeline.kuijer@canterbury.ac.nz
authors.forename: Roeline G
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: Kuijer
authors.forename: Jessica A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Boyce
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D004032:Diet / Q000523:psychology; D055866:Earthquakes; D004435:Eating / Q000523:psychology*; D004644:Emotions; D002149:Energy Intake; D005247:Feeding Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006963:Hyperphagia / Q000523:psychology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D013315:Stress, Psychological; D055815:Young Adult