Differences in daily stress mood, coping, and eating behavior in binge eating and nonbinge eating college women

This study investigated differences between binge eaters and controls on me asures of daily stress, mood, coping, and eating behavior. The same measure s were also used to compare binge days to nonbinge days for the binge group . Participants included 20 college women who reported binge eating at least two times per week and 20 women who reported no disturbance in their eatin g behavior. They were asked to self-monitor their daily stress, coping, moo d, and eating behavior for three weeks. Results indicated that the binge gr oup reported more stress and negative mood over the three weeks than the co ntrol group. The binge group reported experiencing a Similar number of stre ssful events on binge days as compared to nonbinge days, however, the impac t of those events was much greater on binge days. The binge eaters also rep orted less positive mood and more episodes of eating on binge days. The gro ups did not differ in the number of coping strategies used. Stress and nega tive mood appear to be: common antecedents for binge eating. The role of co ping responses and daily eating behavior (i.e., restraint) on binge eating is somewhat less clear. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd.