Positive emotional eating among college students: A systematic scoping review

Emotional eating (EE) has been traditionally defined as eating in response to negative emotions without considering whether positive emotions may also be related to eating habits. Populations at risk of experiencing high levels of stress, like college students, may be particularly susceptible to engaging in EE habits. Therefore, the current study examined positive EE and its relation to eating habits and other correlates (e.g., demographic and psychological variables) among college students.

Search terms based on EE, positive emotions, and college students were used to conduct searches in PubMed and PsycINFO in September and October 2024. A total of 2199 articles were initially identified, and 18 studies met inclusion criteria: 1) participants were undergraduate or graduate students 18 years or older, 2) study included any measure of positive EE, and 3) study presented original research in English.

Included studies were representative of many countries and used varied methodologies (e.g., self-report, observation) to measure positive EE. Positive EE was prevalent among student samples. Positive EE was found to be related to healthy eating habits while the relation among positive EE and demographics and psychological variables, disordered eating habits, food intake, and negative EE was variable across studies.

Positive EE may be a significant correlate of healthy eating habits among college students. Future research should continue to explore positive EE and related correlates to understand if positive EE is a nonpathological or disordered eating behavior. Furthermore, research utilizing diverse college groups is needed.