The association between COVID-19 related food insecurity and weight promoting eating behaviours: The mediating role of distress and eating to cope

Keenan, Gregory S. and Christiansen, Paul and Owen, Lauren J. and Hardman, Charlotte A. (2022) The association between COVID-19 related food insecurity and weight promoting eating behaviours: The mediating role of distress and eating to cope. Appetite, 169. ISSN 0195-6663

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Abstract

Food insecurity (a lack of stable access to nutritious food) is reliably associated with obesity, although the underlying mechanisms are unclear. Past research indicates that this relationship may, in part, be explained by the distress of being food insecure and using food as a coping mechanism. While previous work has focused on long-term food insecurity, the first COVID-19 national lockdown presented a unique opportunity to establish if the same relationships existed for individuals experiencing pandemic related food insecurity. Adults in the United Kingdom (N = 211) were recruited three months after the first UK lockdown via social media. They completed questionnaires on COVID-19 related food insecurity, physical stress, psychological distress, eating to cope, drinking to cope, diet quality, and changes in weight promoting eating behaviours (e.g. consuming larger portions, increased snacking) since the start of the lockdown. A structural equation model revealed that food insecurity was indirectly associated with changes in weight promoting eating behaviours. As predicted, the more instances of pandemic related food insecurity, the more distress individuals reported. Distress was then associated with eating as a way of coping, which in turn was associated with increases in weight promoting eating behaviours. Food insecurity was also indirectly associated with diet quality, but this was via distress only. These results reflect similar pathways observed in individuals reporting chronic food insecurity and strengthens the evidence that distress and eating to cope are generic mediators of food insecurity and eating behaviour.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information and Comments:	“NOTICE: this is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Appetite. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Appetite, Volume 169. February 2022, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2021.105835
Faculty / Department:	Faculty of Human and Digital Sciences > School of Psychology
Depositing User:	Greg Keenan
Date Deposited:	31 Oct 2023 14:33
Last Modified:	31 Oct 2023 14:33
URI:	https://hira.hope.ac.uk/id/eprint/4051

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