TY - JOUR
T1 - Association between emotional eating and frequency of unhealthy food consumption among taiwanese adolescents
AU - Bui, Chung
AU - Lin, Li Yin
AU - Wu, Chih Yi
AU - Chiu, Ya Wen
AU - Chiou, Hung Yi
N1 - Funding Information:
The present study used data from the Taiwan Adolescent to Adult Longitudinal Study (TAALS), which was a school-based, nationally representative, longitudinal survey conducted between 2015 and 2019 [42]. The baseline survey for the TAALS was conducted in 2015. Between 2015 and 2019, the survey was repeated three times to observe changes in health behaviors among participants over time. A multistage stratified sampling approach with probability proportional to size sampling was applied to obtain a nationally represen- tative sample of adolescents. Participants were first-year students in junior high school, senior high school, and vocational high school in 173 nationally representative sample schools. We excluded students who did not have a signed parental consent form and those who did not thoroughly answer questions regarding eating behavior. Among the selected 18,461 records, 6799 (36.8%) were junior high school students (Grade 7, mean age = 13), 4780 (25.9%) were senior high school students (Grade 10, mean age = 16), and 6882 (37.3%) were vocational high school students (Grade 10, mean age = 16). The questionnaire used for the TAALS was developed through a systematic review of large-scale international youth studies. Questions from the questionnaire were adapted from existing questionnaires used in other nationally representative health surveys, including Add Health (The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health); The Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS) by the WHO; the Measuring Bullying Victimization, Perpetration, and Bystander Experiences Assessment Tools compiled by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; and The Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS) survey [43–46]. Our questionnaire was designed to specifically target young adolescents between the ages of 11 to 18 years old and included questions about demographic information, lifestyle and physical activity, substance use, dietary behaviors, mental health, violence-related behaviors and experiences, sexual behaviors and attitudes, and social support. An expert validity test was also conducted to evaluate the reliability and validity of our questionnaire, and each question from the questionnaire achieved a content validity index (CVI) score between 0.9 and 1.0. The TAALS was a cohort study funded by Taiwan’s Health Promotion Administration (HPA). Our access to the TAALS dataset was granted by the HPA for data analysis and publication purposes. The baseline survey for the TAALS was conducted in 2015, and the TAALS cohort was followed until 2019 with three follow-up surveys. The TAALS study was approved by the Joint Institutional Review Board of Taipei Medical University, Taiwan (TMU-JIRB-201410043). The original data collection for the TAALS study and our subsequent analysis of the survey results were both approved by the Joint Institutional Review Board of Taipei Medical University, Taiwan (TMU-JIRB-201410043).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
PY - 2021/8
Y1 - 2021/8
N2 - Emotional eating is one factor that increases the consumption of unhealthy food. This study aimed to investigate the association between emotional eating and frequencies of consuming fast food, high-fat snacks, processed meat products, dessert foods, and sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) in adolescents. The baseline survey data (2015) from the Taiwan Adolescent to Adult Longitudinal Study (TAALS) were fitted into multivariate logistic regression models adjusted for sex, school type, Body Mass Index (BMI), eating while doing something, nutrition label reading, skipping breakfast, smoking, binge drinking, sedentary lifestyle, physical activity, peer and school support, and parental education level. Among the 18,461 participants (48.5% male and 51.5% female), those exhibiting emotional eating were more likely to consume fast food (Odds ratio (OR) = 2.40, 95% Confidence interval (CI): 2.18–2.64), high-fat snacks (OR = 2.30, 95% CI: 2.12–2.49), processed meat products (OR = 1.92, 95% CI: 1.78–2.08), dessert foods (OR = 2.49, 95% CI: 2.31–2.69), and sugar-sweetened beverages (OR = 1.83, 95% CI: 1.70–1.98). Factors that were positively associated with unhealthy food consumption included eating while doing other activities, binge drinking, smoking, and sedentary lifestyle. Among all the covariates, nutrition label reading was the only factor that was inversely associated with frequent unhealthy food consumption. Sex and school type may moderate the effect of emotional eating on the frequent consumption of specific unhealthy food groups. In conclusion, adolescents with high emotional eating were more likely to report frequent consumption of unhealthy foods in Taiwan. Our findings showed that male participants appeared to consume fast foods, high-fat snacks, processed meat, and SSBs more often and dessert foods less often than females. Future longitudinal studies are recommended for understanding the causal relationship between emotional eating and unhealthy food consumption.
AB - Emotional eating is one factor that increases the consumption of unhealthy food. This study aimed to investigate the association between emotional eating and frequencies of consuming fast food, high-fat snacks, processed meat products, dessert foods, and sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) in adolescents. The baseline survey data (2015) from the Taiwan Adolescent to Adult Longitudinal Study (TAALS) were fitted into multivariate logistic regression models adjusted for sex, school type, Body Mass Index (BMI), eating while doing something, nutrition label reading, skipping breakfast, smoking, binge drinking, sedentary lifestyle, physical activity, peer and school support, and parental education level. Among the 18,461 participants (48.5% male and 51.5% female), those exhibiting emotional eating were more likely to consume fast food (Odds ratio (OR) = 2.40, 95% Confidence interval (CI): 2.18–2.64), high-fat snacks (OR = 2.30, 95% CI: 2.12–2.49), processed meat products (OR = 1.92, 95% CI: 1.78–2.08), dessert foods (OR = 2.49, 95% CI: 2.31–2.69), and sugar-sweetened beverages (OR = 1.83, 95% CI: 1.70–1.98). Factors that were positively associated with unhealthy food consumption included eating while doing other activities, binge drinking, smoking, and sedentary lifestyle. Among all the covariates, nutrition label reading was the only factor that was inversely associated with frequent unhealthy food consumption. Sex and school type may moderate the effect of emotional eating on the frequent consumption of specific unhealthy food groups. In conclusion, adolescents with high emotional eating were more likely to report frequent consumption of unhealthy foods in Taiwan. Our findings showed that male participants appeared to consume fast foods, high-fat snacks, processed meat, and SSBs more often and dessert foods less often than females. Future longitudinal studies are recommended for understanding the causal relationship between emotional eating and unhealthy food consumption.
KW - Adolescents
KW - Emotional eating
KW - Public health
KW - Risk factors
KW - Unhealthy food consumption
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UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85112067222&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3390/nu13082739
DO - 10.3390/nu13082739
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85112067222
SN - 2072-6643
VL - 13
JO - Nutrients
JF - Nutrients
IS - 8
M1 - 2739
ER -
