Metacognitive beliefs and emotional eating in adolescents

Metacognition refers to how people think about their own thoughts. Existing studies have found that compared to healthy controls, individuals with eating disorders manifest elevated levels of dysfunctional metacognitive beliefs. No studies to date have investigated what role metacognitive beliefs play in the manifestation of emotional eating, a well-known risk factor for the development of eating disorders. The purpose of the current study was to assess the associations between metacognitive beliefs and emotional eating in a community sample of adolescents.

Participants were 135 middle school students (Mean age = 13.62 years; SD = 0.57) who completed the Emotional Eating Scale Adapted for Children and Adolescents-Short-Form, Metacognition Questionnaire for Children, Positive and Negative Affect Schedule for Children, and a demographic questionnaire.

Participants classified as high emotional eaters reported statistically significant higher negative metacognitive beliefs (Mean = 15.56; SD = 4.22) compared to participants classified as low emotional eaters (Mean = 12.85; SD = 4.31; p ≤ 0.001; t =  - 3.69). There was a significant positive association between emotional eating and negative metacognitive beliefs in the hierarchical multiple linear regression analysis (standardized beta coefficient = 0.25; p < 0.05) after controlling for socio-demographic variables and negative affect.

The current findings provide preliminary evidence that negative metacognitive beliefs may play a role in the manifestation of emotional eating in adolescents. Future prospective studies are needed to elucidate the temporal associations between emotional eating and negative metacognitive beliefs in this population.

Level III, case-control analytic study.