Objective: Emotion-induced eating has been implicated as a risk factor for the development of obesity, yet no research has been done on emotion-induced eating in children. The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Growth and Health Study (NGHS), a multicenter collaborative study of risk factors for obesity, developed an instrument for measuring emotion-induced eating in children and tested hypotheses regarding the association of emotion-induced eating with food intake and adiposity in preadolescent children.
Method: Subjects were 1,213 black girls and 1,166 white girls who were 9 and 10 at study entry. Baseline data were utilized in this report. Girls were assessed by trained female health examiners who recorded height, weight, and indices of sexual maturation. Girls kept a 3-day food diary. Dietary data were coded and analyzed for total caloric and macro nutrient intake. A measure of emotion-induced eating was derived from seven questions about eating in response to emotions (Cronbach's alpha = .78).
Results: Black girls had significantly higher emotion-induced eating scores than white girls (10.8 vs. 9.7, p < .0001). For white girls, but not for black girls, emotion-induced eating was associated with increased intake of sucrose. In both races, a modest inverse association was found between body mass index and emotion-induced eating.
Discussion: Prospective studies are needed to explore further the role of emotion-induced eating and food intake and the role of emotion-induced eating in the development of obesity.