Association between food insecurity and emotional eating in Latinos and the mediating role of perceived stress
UMass Chan Affiliations
Prevention Research CenterDivision of Preventive and Behavioral Medicine, Department of Quantitative Health Sciences
Document Type
Journal ArticlePublication Date
2019-11-13Keywords
Emotional eatingFood insecurity
Latinx
Perceived stress
UMCCTS funding
Behavioral Medicine
Behavior and Behavior Mechanisms
Community Health
Community Health and Preventive Medicine
Dietetics and Clinical Nutrition
Food Security
Nutritional Epidemiology
Preventive Medicine
Psychological Phenomena and Processes
Race and Ethnicity
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
OBJECTIVE: To examine the association between food insecurity and emotional eating (EE) in US Latinxs and explore the mediating role of perceived stress. DESIGN: Cross-sectional analysis. Food insecurity was measured with the six-item US Department of Agriculture Household Food Security Scale; EE with the Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire R18-V2; and perceived stress with Cohen's Perceived Stress Scale-10. Covariates included age, sex, education, marital status, household size and country of birth. Mediation was tested using the Baron and Kenny method and the mediated proportion was calculated. Analyses included multivariable linear regression and multinomial logistic regression. SETTING: A largely Latinx city in Massachusetts, USA. Participants were recruited from a community health centre serving a large portion of this Latinx community. PARTICIPANTS: Latinx individuals (n 580), aged 21-84 years. RESULTS: Overall, 34.4 % were food insecure and 33.8 % experienced High EE. Food insecurity was associated (adjusted OR; 95 % CI) with higher odds of High EE (1.96; 1.28, 3.02) but not Low EE (1.27; 0.82, 1.99). Food insecurity was associated (beta; 95 % CI) with higher perceived stress (5.69; 4.20, 7.19). Perceived stress was associated (adjusted OR; 95 % CI) with High EE (1.09; 1.06, 1.12) but not Low EE (1.00; CI 0.97, 1.02). When perceived stress was added in the main effects model, food insecurity was no longer associated (OR; 95 % CI) with High EE (1.31; 0.83, 2.07) and explained 69.9 % of the association between food insecurity and High EE. CONCLUSIONS: The association between food insecurity and high EE among Latinxs may be largely mediated by perceived stress. Longitudinal studies are needed.Source
Public Health Nutr. 2019 Nov 13:1-7. doi: 10.1017/S1368980019002878. [Epub ahead of print] Link to article on publisher's site
DOI
10.1017/S1368980019002878Permanent Link to this Item
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14038/44560PubMed ID
31718732Related Resources
ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1017/S1368980019002878