Sex Differences in Eating in Response to Stress: The Moderating Role of Disordered Eating Behaviors

Open Access
- Author:
- Idiculla, Hope
- Area of Honors:
- Biobehavioral Health
- Degree:
- Bachelor of Science
- Document Type:
- Thesis
- Thesis Supervisors:
- Lori Anne Francis, Thesis Supervisor
Helen Marie Kamens, Thesis Honors Advisor - Keywords:
- Stress
Eating
Emotional eating
restrained eating
external eating
cortisol
disordered eating behaviors
adolescent
poor
rural
sex differences
BMI
girls
boys - Abstract:
- Background: Adolescent obesity, which has been described as an epidemic among youth in America, shows links to disordered eating behaviors. There is evidence of sex differences in adolescent obesity, but little research has been conducted on these sex differences and the role of disordered eating behaviors in adolescent stress eating, especially among multicultural, low socioeconomic status, and non-metropolitan communities. Further research is also needed to address the role of cortisol recovery and body mass index (BMI) status in adolescent stress eating. Examining sex differences in stress eating may provide new information to inform the development of interventions to prevent adolescent obesity. Objectives: There were three main objectives of this paper: (1) to determine if there were sex differences in eating in response to stress, (2) to determine if sex differences in stress-related eating differed based on adolescents’ disordered eating behaviors, and (3) to determine if there were sex differences in cortisol responding and BMI in adolescents who consume more in response to stress compared to those who do not. Methods: Participants included 278 predominantly low-income and rural adolescents (mean age = 14.2 + 0.6) and their parents. Families were seen for two, 2.5-hour visits (i.e., one low-stress visit, one high-stress visit) that were ~1 week apart, which varied based on youth exposure to a psychosocial stress task. Pre- and post-weight intake was measured from an ad-libitum meal served at both visits. Youth height and weight were measured by trained research assistants. Adolescents provided a self-report of their disordered eating behaviors, including restrained eating, emotional eating, and external eating. Results: Adolescents did not consume significantly more kilocalories (kcals) on the high-stress visits than the low-stress visits. No significant sex differences were found in eating in response to stress for difference in kcal intake; however, boys exhibited greater consumption during the meal at each home visit (for both low- and high- stress days) than girls. There were no sex differences in eating in response to stress based on adolescents’ disordered eating behaviors. There was a trend towards high-stress eating boys consuming greater kcals in response to stress than high-stress eating girls. Additionally, there was a trend in low-stress eating boys consuming fewer kcals in response to stress than low-stress eating girls. There was a trend towards girls who were high-stress eaters showing blunted cortisol recovery in response to stress. There was a trend towards boys who were low stress-eaters having lower BMI z-scores compared to girls who were low stress-eaters. Conclusion: There were no major sex differences in stress-related eating in this sample of adolescents from rural, poor households. Future studies are needed to further assess sex differences in stress eating and disordered eating behaviors in order to inform interventions that address eating behaviors that may influence adolescent obesity.