Investigation of the Relationship Between Emotional Eating and Psychological Resilience in High School Students

PROBLEM: Adolescents' focus on self-appearance may cause emotional eating. Resilience and coping skills may prevent this. This study investigates the relationship between emotional eating and resilience among high school students. METHODS: This descriptive, relational study was conducted with 477 students from five high schools in Antalya, Türkiye. The data were collected face-to-face using Personal Information Form, the Emotional Eating Scale for Children and Adolescents, and the Child and Youth Resilience Measure. Parametric tests were used in analysis. FINDINGS: Male students had higher scores in Emotional Eating Scale for Children and Adolescents, in anxiety-anger-frustration and feeling unsettled subscales. Anxiety-anger-frustration scores were related significantly to Body Mass Index and study-time snacking. Depressive symptoms scores were linked to snacking while watching. Feeling unsettled scores were related to sweets/snacks consumption and study-time snacking. Resilience was significantly associated with grade, income, academic success, fast food/snack intake, and regular meals. No significant correlation found between emotional eating and resilience. Regression showed emotional eating was affected by height and study-time snacking; resilience was affected by height, grade, income, academic success, regular dinners. CONCLUSION: Emotional eating and resilience are associated with sociodemographic and eating behavior factors, but no significant link was found between them.