Date of Award

5-2016

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

First Advisor

Maureen Carrigan

Second Advisor

Meredith Elzy

Third Advisor

Edward Callen

Abstract

Emotional eating pertains to eating in response to negative emotional experiences, and can occur for a variety of reasons. Individuals may emotionally eat as a means of submerging themselves into positive reinforcing states, as a way of coping, or as a distraction from their negative emotional experience (Cialdini, 1973; Kemp, Bui, & Grier, 2013; and Spoor et al., 2006). Historically, emotional eating has included boredom. Recent research has suggested that bored eating may be a separate construct from emotional eating (Koball et al., 2012). Thus, the present study investigated the variables associated with both emotional eating and bored eating with the aim of discovering if bored eating should exist as a separate construct by inducing the both negative affective and bored emotional states. This is the first study to use food intake as a criterion variable in the exploration of bored eating. Results indicated there were differences between the two constructs in that individuals’ food consumption during the bored emotional state was predicted by conscientiousness, and both conscientiousness and neuroticism appeared as predictor variables for emotional (negative affect) eating. This study contributes to the research examining bored eating outside of emotional eating behaviors.

Download

Share

COinS