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Saturday, 16 November 2013
Learning Objective 1: The learner will be able to understand the relationship between academic stress and emotional eating in preadolescents.
Learning Objective 2: The learner will be able to describe the mediating role of resourcefulness on the relationship between academic stress and emotional eating.
Problem: Childhood obesity is an important health issue worldwide. Emotional eating styles have been shown to be associated with overweight and obesity and may be influenced by stress, resulting in use of emotional eating as a coping strategy. Research in adults shows that cognitive-behavioral skills constituting resourcefulness are effective for coping with stress and performing health behaviors. However, few studies have examined whether resourcefulness skills are important in children. Purpose: This study examined associations between academic stress and resourcefulness in relation to emotional eating in preadolescents in Taiwan. Theoretical framework: Rosenbaum’s theory of learned resourcefulness and Zauszniewski’s mid-range theory of resourcefulness and quality of life provide the context for examining relationships among theory-driven variables. Subjects: A convenience sample of 368 fifth- and sixth-grade children was recruited within communities in Taiwan. Method: A descriptive, correlational, cross-sectional design was used to examine hypothesized relationships among demographic characteristics, academic stress, resourcefulness, and emotional eating. Results: Over one-fourth (26.24%) of the preadolescents, ages 10 to 13 years, were overweight or obese. Less than 1% had a high to very high tendency toward emotional eating. Emotional eating and BMI were unrelated. Higher tendency toward emotional eating was weakly associated with greater academic stress (r = .15, p < .01). Greater resourcefulness were associated with lower academic stress (r = -.25, p < .001) and less emotional eating (r = -.16, p < .01). In addition, resourcefulness mediated the relationship between academic stress and emotional eating. Conclusion: The findings indicated that highly resourceful preadolescents were less likely to experience academic stress and emotional eating. It is imperative for nurses to recognize emotional eating patterns and to implement interventions to enhance resourcefulness skills for managing academic stress and preventing emotional eating that may lead to childhood overweight and obesity.