Increases in Emotional Eating during Early Adolescence and Associations with Appearance Teasing by Parents and Peers, Rejection, Victimization, Depression, and Social Anxiety

Emotional eating, defined as eating in response to affect, may increase during early adolescence, a time of heightened emotionality and increased prevalence of emotional disorders. We investigated change in emotional eating, while also testing the influence of social-emotional risk factors. Study participants (N = 379, mean age [M[subscript age]] = 12.0 years; 56% girls) completed measures of emotional eating twice over 1 year and reported on social adversity within peer and parent contexts (i.e., appearance teasing by peers and parents, and peer rejection) and depression and social anxiety symptoms. Relational victimization and peer rejection, measured via classmate-reports, were also examined as correlates of emotional eating. Emotional eating increased, on average, for Grade 6 and 7 students, marginally increased in Grade 5 students, and increased in boys and girls. In a multivariate prospective model, appearance teasing by parents and social anxiety symptoms were prospectively associated with a higher level of emotional eating 1 year later.