Acculturative stress and emotional eating in Latino adolescents

Despite data that suggest Latino adolescents experience acculturative stress (i.e., feeling overwhelmed by conflicting cultural practices, language problems, and ethnic self-consciousness) and endorse elevated levels of emotional eating, there has been an absence of research examining the relations between acculturative stress and emotional eating in this population. The purpose of the present study was to (1) examine the associations between acculturative stress, emotional eating, and change in BMIz scores in Latino adolescents over a 3-month period, and (2) compare Latino and non-Latino adolescents on measures of acculturative stress, emotional eating, and body mass index (BMI).

The sample comprised 168 Latino (mean age 13.69 years; SD 0.88) and 278 non-Latino (mean age 13.68 years; SD 0.79) middle and high school students. Participants completed the Emotional Eating Scale for Children and Adolescents (EES-C), the Social, Attitudinal, Familial, and Environmental Acculturative Stress Scale for Children (SAFE-C), and a demographic questionnaire. Participants had their height and weight measured after completing the questionnaires and at a second-time point, approximately 3 months after time 1 measurements. Independent samples t tests and Cohen's d effect sizes were used to investigate whether there were differences between Latino adolescents and non-Latino adolescents. Pearson correlations were computed to examine associations between acculturative stress, emotional eating, and change in BMIz scores in the Latino sample.

Latino adolescents endorsed significantly higher acculturative stress on the SAFE-C compared to non-Latino adolescents (Latino mean 30.81; non-Latino mean 25.64; p < 0.001; Cohen's d effect size = 0.35). In the Latino sample, acculturative stress was associated with higher levels of emotional eating. Latino and non-Latino adolescents endorsed similar levels of emotional eating.

The present findings provide preliminary evidence that acculturative stress may serve as a risk factor for emotional eating among Latino adolescents. Future obesity prevention and intervention programs developed for Latino adolescents may benefit from addressing acculturative stress, particularly among more recent Latino immigrants.

Level 3, case-control analytic study.