The impact of perceived stress on US millennials' external and emotional eating behavior
ISSN: 0007-070X
Article publication date: 30 June 2020
Issue publication date: 24 December 2020
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to identify the relationship between Millennials' perceived stress and their external and emotional eating behaviors. Furthermore, the moderating effect of nutritional knowledge on the relationship between perceived stress and emotional eating and perceived stress and external eating of US Millennials was tested.
Design/methodology/approach
Data was collected from 649 Millennials between the ages of 18 and 35 in the United States, and structural equation modeling (SEM) was performed to test the study hypotheses.
Findings
This study extends the literature and provides further insights into the relationship between US Millennials' eating behavior and stress factors. Perceived stress positively influenced Millennials' emotional and external eating behavior, and nutritional knowledge significantly moderated the relationships between perceived stress and emotional eating and perceived stress and external eating.
Research limitations/implications
First, data was collected from Millennials living in the United States. Second, not all of the predictors, save one (perceived stress), were selected and hypothesized as predictors of Millennials' eating behavior. The paper provides the essential psychological elements of US Millennials' eating behavior.
Originality/value
If unbalanced eating and obesity are the result of negative psychological factors, the recommended diet models or physical exercise by themselves may be less effective at combating obesity and related health issues. This is because stress was found to be a highly significant reason for unbalanced eating, new and more practical stress coping strategies are needed to moderate unbalanced eating behavior.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors wish to thank their participants for engaging with the research, the funding agency (University of Central Florida, USA) for its financial support and anonymous referees for their constructive criticism.Funding: The present research was made possible by support from the University of Central Florida (Grant number: 12019013) in 2017–2018.Disclosure statement: No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Citation
Okumus, B. and Ozturk, A.B. (2021), "The impact of perceived stress on US millennials' external and emotional eating behavior", British Food Journal, Vol. 123 No. 1, pp. 1-11. https://doi.org/10.1108/BFJ-07-2019-0490
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2020, Emerald Publishing Limited