Eating Behavior, Emotions, and Overweight

Abstract

Your Emotional Investment in Eating: A Test was administered to 26 subjects 20 or more pounds overweight, and to 36 subjects within 20 pounds of “desirable” weight. The test as a whole differentiated the groups as did 11 of 30 individual items. The overweight persons showed greater emotional reactivity, were more self-dissatisfied, more private or solitary in their eating habits, and more immoderate in eating than controls if bored or depressed.