The association of perceived stress, contextualized stress, and emotional eating with body mass index in college-aged Black women

• The associations among perceived stress, contextualized stress, emotional eating, and BMI were evaluated.
• Higher perceived stress is associated with BMI among African American college students who engage in emotional eating.
• Higher contextualized stress is also associated with BMI among students who engage in emotional eating.
• The present study offers evidence for understanding the moderating role of emotional eating on stress and BMI.

A growing body of literature supports the association between adverse stress experiences and health inequities, including obesity, among African American/Black women. Adverse stress experiences can contribute to poor appetite regulation, increased food intake, emotional eating, binge eating, and sedentary behavior, all of which can contribute to weight gain and obesity. Most research studies concerning the effect of psychological stress on eating behaviors have not examined the unique stress experience, body composition, and eating behaviors of African American/Black women. Even fewer studies have examined these constructs among Black female college students, who have an increased prevalence of overweight and obesity compared to their counterparts. Therefore, the aim of the current study is to examine the associations among emotional eating, perceived stress, contextualized stress, and BMI in African American female college students. All participants identified as African American or Black (N = 99). The mean age of the sample was 19.4 years (SD = 1.80). A statistically significant eating behavior patterns × perceived stress interaction was evident for body mass index (BMI) (β = 0.036, S.E. = .0118, p < .01). In addition, a statistically significant eating behavior patterns × contextualized stress interaction was observed for BMI (β = 0.007, S.E. = .0027, p = .015). Findings from this study demonstrate that the stress experience interacts with emotional eating to influence BMI. Based on these findings, culturally relevant interventions that target the unique stress experience and eating behavior patterns of young African American women are warranted.