Emotional Eating, Social Anxiety and Depression among Normal-weight and Obese Adolescents: A Comparative Study

Abstract

Background: Emotional eating is eating in reaction to the emotion that may increase during early adolescence, a time of heightened emotionality, and increased prevalence of emotional disorders. Aim: to compare emotional eating, social anxiety, and depression among normal-weight and obese adolescents. Subjects and Method: Design: Current study followed a design of cross-sectional comparative descriptive research design. Subjects: The subjects consisted of 92 obese adolescents and 92 normal-weight adolescents. Setting: The study was carried out in the pediatric endocrinology outpatient clinic of the Mansoura University Children’s Hospital, Egypt, and in two randomly selected preparatory and secondary schools affiliated to Mansoura District, Egypt. Tools: Tools of data collection included tool I: Socio-demographic Interview Schedule, tool II: Emotional Eating Scale, tool III: Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale, and tool IV: Beck Depression Inventory-II. Results: 90.2%, 72.8%, and 75% of the obese adolescents experienced high emotional eating, moderate to severe social anxiety, and severe depression respectively, compared to 63%, 9.8%, and 6.5% respectively of normal-weight adolescents. Conclusion: there was a statistically significant relationship between social anxiety, emotional eating, and depression among obese adolescents. Recommendation: Patient or Public Contribution: Social anxiety, depression, and emotional eating, as obesity risk factors, should be part of an integrated strategy to prevent and manage obesity among adolescents. Keywords: Adolescents, Depression, Emotional Eating, Normal-weight, Obesity, Social Anxiety