Does stress eat away at you or make you eat? EMA measures of stress predict day to day food craving and perceived food intake as a function of trait stress-eating

Figures & data

Table 1. Descriptive statistics of within day variables assessed in study 1.

Variable	M	SD
Level 1
Stress	31.1	20.2
Craving	33.6	30.6
Perceived food intake	52.1	15.0
Negative affect	15.5	14.3
Level 2
Salzburg Stress Eating Scale (1-5)	2.85	0.71

Note. Level 1 based on 4002 observations, except perceived food intake (2338 observations). Level 2 based on 97 participants.

Figure 1. Relationship between stress and food craving moderated by the Salzburg Stress Eating Scale (SSES) in study 1.

Table 2. Multilevel models of study 1.

Model	Coefficient β (SE)	p
intra-day
Stress – craving relationship
Stress	β10 = −.007 (.043)	.863
Stress-eating (SSES scores)	β01 = −1.34 (1.80)	.457
Stress*Stress-eating interaction	β11 = .159 (.068)	.021
Stress – perceived food intake relationship
Stress	β10 = −.024 (.035)	.486
Stress-eating (SSES scores)	β01 = 2.30 (1.10)	.039
Stress*Stress-eating interaction	β11 = .012 (.034)	.722
day level
Stress – perceived food intake relationship
Stress	β10 = −.066 (.047)	.158
Stress-eating (SSES scores)	β01 = 2.32 (.987)	.021
Stress*Stress-eating interaction	β11 = .117 (.058)	.047

Note: p-values < .050 are printed in boldface. SSES = Salzburg Stress Eating Questionnaire.

Figure 2. Relationship between stress and food craving moderated by the Salzburg Stress Eating Scale (SSES) in study 1.

Table 3. Descriptive statistics of within day variables assessed in study 2.

Variable	M	SD
Level 1
Stress	33.4	18.2
Craving	21.7	25.2
Perceived food intake	50.0	15.7
Negative affect	13.9	13.3
Level 2
Salzburg Stress Eating Scale (1-5)	3.11	0.68

Note. Level 1 based on 3954 observations, except perceived food intake (3074 observations). Level 2 based on 83 participants.

Figure 3. Relationship between stress and food craving moderated by the Salzburg Stress Eating Scale in study 2.

Table 4. Multilevel models of study 2.

Model	Coefficient β (SE)	p
intra-day
Stress – craving relationship
Stress	β01 = .005 (.036)	.900
Stress-eating (SSES scores)	β01 = 6.36 (2.10)	.003
Stress*Stress-eating interaction	β11 = .117 (.045)	.011
Stress – perceived food intake relationship
Stress	β10 = −.014 (.026)	.580
Stress-eating (SSES scores)	β01 = 3.51 (.971)	<.001
Stress*Stress-eating interaction	β11 = .031 (.039)	.418
day level
Stress – perceived food intake relationship
Stress	β10 = .054 (.036)	.133
Stress-eating (SSES scores)	β01 = 2.95 (.900)	.002
Stress*Stress-eating interaction	β11 = .114 (.041)	.007

Note: p-values < .050 are printed in boldface. SSES = Salzburg Stress Eating Questionnaire.

Figure 4. Relationship between stress and food craving moderated by the Salzburg Stress Eating Scale (SSES) in study 2.