Effects of daily hassles and eating style on eating behavior

Objective: This study investigated the daily hassles-eating behavior relationship and its moderators in a naturalistic setting. Design: A multilevel diary design was used to examine day-to-day within-person effects of daily hassles on eating behavior (N = 422), together with the individual and simultaneous influence of potential moderating variables. Main Outcome Measures: Daily diary reports of between-meal snacking, fruit and vegetable consumption and perceived variations in daily food intake. Results: The results showed daily hassles were associated with increased consumption of high fat/sugar snacks and with a reduction in main meals and vegetable consumption. Ego-threatening, interpersonal and work-related hassles were associated with increased snacking, whereas, physical stressors were associated with decreased snacking. The overall hassles-snacking relationship was significantly stronger and more positive at high compared to low levels of restraint, emotional eating, disinhibition, external eating and in females and obese participants. Simultaneous consideration of these moderators indicated that emotional eating was the pre-eminent moderator of the hassles-snacking relationship. Conclusion: Daily hassles were associated with an increase in unhealthy eating behavior. These changes may indicate an important indirect pathway through which stress influences health risk.