Emotional Eating Is Not What You Think It Is and Emotional Eating Scales Do Not Measure What You Think They Measure
In eating research, it is common practice to group people into different eater types, such as emotional, external and restrained eaters. This categorization is generally based on scores on self-report questionnaires. However, recent studies have started to raise questions about the validity of such...
| Main Authors: | , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Frontiers Media S.A.
2016-12-01
|
| Series: | Frontiers in Psychology |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01932/full |
| _version_ | 1818313033964847104 |
|---|---|
| author | Peggy Bongers Anita Jansen |
| author_facet | Peggy Bongers Anita Jansen |
| author_sort | Peggy Bongers |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | In eating research, it is common practice to group people into different eater types, such as emotional, external and restrained eaters. This categorization is generally based on scores on self-report questionnaires. However, recent studies have started to raise questions about the validity of such questionnaires. In the realm of emotional eating, a considerable number of studies, both in the lab and in naturalistic settings, fail to demonstrate increased food intake in emotional situations in self-described emotional eaters. The current paper provides a review of experimental and naturalistic studies investigating the relationships between self-reported emotional eater status, mood, and food consumption. It is concluded that emotional eating scales lack predictive and discriminative validity; they cannot be assumed to measure accurately what they intend to measure, namely increased food intake in response to negative emotions. The review is followed by a discussion of alternative interpretations of emotional eating scores that have been suggested in the past few years, i.e., concerned eating, uncontrolled eating, a tendency to attribute overeating to negative affect, and cue-reactive eating. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-13T08:27:19Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-ed0147af0de846f6ba0a825b52cfebf4 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-1078 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-13T08:27:19Z |
| publishDate | 2016-12-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Psychology |
| spelling | doaj.art-ed0147af0de846f6ba0a825b52cfebf42022-12-21T23:53:52ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782016-12-01710.3389/fpsyg.2016.01932215312Emotional Eating Is Not What You Think It Is and Emotional Eating Scales Do Not Measure What You Think They MeasurePeggy Bongers0Anita Jansen1Maastricht UniversityMaastricht UniversityIn eating research, it is common practice to group people into different eater types, such as emotional, external and restrained eaters. This categorization is generally based on scores on self-report questionnaires. However, recent studies have started to raise questions about the validity of such questionnaires. In the realm of emotional eating, a considerable number of studies, both in the lab and in naturalistic settings, fail to demonstrate increased food intake in emotional situations in self-described emotional eaters. The current paper provides a review of experimental and naturalistic studies investigating the relationships between self-reported emotional eater status, mood, and food consumption. It is concluded that emotional eating scales lack predictive and discriminative validity; they cannot be assumed to measure accurately what they intend to measure, namely increased food intake in response to negative emotions. The review is followed by a discussion of alternative interpretations of emotional eating scores that have been suggested in the past few years, i.e., concerned eating, uncontrolled eating, a tendency to attribute overeating to negative affect, and cue-reactive eating.http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01932/fullvalidityemotional eatingSelf-report questionnairesuncontrolled eatingconcerned eatingcue-reactive eating |
| spellingShingle | Peggy Bongers Anita Jansen Emotional Eating Is Not What You Think It Is and Emotional Eating Scales Do Not Measure What You Think They Measure Frontiers in Psychology validity emotional eating Self-report questionnaires uncontrolled eating concerned eating cue-reactive eating |
| title | Emotional Eating Is Not What You Think It Is and Emotional Eating Scales Do Not Measure What You Think They Measure |
| title_full | Emotional Eating Is Not What You Think It Is and Emotional Eating Scales Do Not Measure What You Think They Measure |
| title_fullStr | Emotional Eating Is Not What You Think It Is and Emotional Eating Scales Do Not Measure What You Think They Measure |
| title_full_unstemmed | Emotional Eating Is Not What You Think It Is and Emotional Eating Scales Do Not Measure What You Think They Measure |
| title_short | Emotional Eating Is Not What You Think It Is and Emotional Eating Scales Do Not Measure What You Think They Measure |
| title_sort | emotional eating is not what you think it is and emotional eating scales do not measure what you think they measure |
| topic | validity emotional eating Self-report questionnaires uncontrolled eating concerned eating cue-reactive eating |
| url | http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01932/full |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT peggybongers emotionaleatingisnotwhatyouthinkitisandemotionaleatingscalesdonotmeasurewhatyouthinktheymeasure AT anitajansen emotionaleatingisnotwhatyouthinkitisandemotionaleatingscalesdonotmeasurewhatyouthinktheymeasure |