Emotions and eating in everyday life

This field study assessed emotional states experienced in everyday life and examined the subjective motivation to eat associated with these emotional states. Twenty-three female subjects rated their momentary emotional state and motivation to eat on 6 consecutive days at 11:00a.m., 2:00p.m., 5:00p.m ., 8:00p.m. and 11:00p.m. A cluster analysis of the resulting 634 emotion p rofiles revealed three types of emotional states characterized by the label s "Anger-dominance", "Tension/Fear" and "Relaxation/Joy". A fourth cluster showing generally low levels of emotions was labelled "Unemotional state". Most of the self-rated motivations to eat were increased during periods of negative emotions. During negative emotions a heightened tendency to cope w ith these emotions through eating and more intense bodily symptoms of hunge r were also reported. No differences in motivations to eat were found betwe en the two negative emotion clusters or between relaxation/joy and the unem otional state. Results indicate the presence of "emotionally instrumental e ating" in a non-clinical population under real life conditions. Physiologic al correlates of negative emotional states may be involved in emotionally i nstrumental eating. (C) 2000 Academic Press.