Emotional Eating Sustainability in Romania—A Questionnaire-Based Study

Anca Bacârea, Vladimir Constantin Bacârea (), Florin Buicu, Călin Crăciun, Bianca Kosovski, Raquel Guiné and Monica Tarcea
Additional contact information
Anca Bacârea: Department of Pathophysiology, University of Medicine, Pharmacy, Science and Technology “George Emil Palade”, 540139 Targu Mures, Romania
Vladimir Constantin Bacârea: Department of Scientific Research Methodology, University of Medicine, Pharmacy, Science, and Technology “George Emil Palade”, 540139 Targu Mures, Romania
Florin Buicu: Department of Public Health, University of Medicine, Pharmacy, Science, and Technology “George Emil Palade”, 540139 Targu Mures, Romania
Călin Crăciun: Department of Surgery, University of Medicine, Pharmacy, Science and Technology “George Emil Palade”, 540139 Targu Mures, Romania
Bianca Kosovski: Department of Pathophysiology, University of Medicine, Pharmacy, Science and Technology “George Emil Palade”, 540139 Targu Mures, Romania
Raquel Guiné: CERNAS Research Centre, Polytechnic Institute of Viseu, 3504-510 Viseu, Portugal
Monica Tarcea: Department of Community Nutrition and Food Safety, University of Medicine, Pharmacy, Science and Technology “George Emil Palade”, 540139 Targu Mures, Romania

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 4, 1-10

Abstract: Background: In Romania, there is little information regarding emotional eating and risk profile for obesity in eating disorders. Therefore, our purpose was to estimate the relationship between demographic, anthropometric, and emotional eating profiles among the Romanian adult population. Methods: The present study is descriptive and cross-sectional, involving 674 Romanian participants who answered the online questionnaire, which was developed and validated in 2019 through a European project. SPSS Statistics v.25 was used for statistical analyses, the Spearman test for linear regression, and Cronbach’s alpha for the evaluation of the internal consistency of the scales. Results: The mean age of the studied population (mostly women, 67.95%) was 38.13 ± 13.41 years old, and the mean BMI (calculated based on self-declared weight and height) was 24.63 ± 4.39 kg/m 2 ; both measures are significantly higher in men than in women. BMI was also significantly higher in participants using food as an escape from situations such as stress, loneliness, feeling depressed, or as an emotional consolation. This behavior was observed especially in the elderly, similar to other European countries. Conclusion: Our data contribute to a better understanding of emotional eating in Romania, and we hope to improve public health policies, with the goal of preventing obesity and chronic related disorders.

Keywords: emotional eating; BMI; food behavior; obesity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/4/2895/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/4/2895/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:4:p:2895-:d:1058966

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().