The Perceived Impact of COVID-19 on Comfort Food Consumption over Time: The Mediational Role of Emotional Distress.

Publisher: MDPI Publishing Country of Publication: Switzerland NLM ID: 101521595 Publication Model: Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 2072-6643 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 20726643 NLM ISO Abbreviation: Nutrients Subsets: MEDLINE

Original Publication: Basel, Switzerland : MDPI Publishing

Emotions* ; Pandemics* ; Psychological Distress*; COVID-19/*psychology ; Diet/*psychology ; Feeding Behavior/*psychology ; Stress, Psychological/*etiology; Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Faculty ; Female ; Health Behavior ; Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice ; Humans ; Longitudinal Studies ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Perception ; SARS-CoV-2 ; Stress, Psychological/diet therapy ; Students ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Universities ; Young Adult

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on populations at an economic, health, and on an interpersonal level, it is still unclear how it has affected health-risk behaviors, such as comfort food consumption over time. This study longitudinally examines the effect of the perceived impact of COVID-19 on comfort food consumption and whether this effect is mediated by emotional distress. A convenience sample of 1048 students and university staff (academic and non-academic) from two universities completed monthly online surveys during the COVID-19 pandemic across six waves (W; W1 to W6). Participants reported their perceived impact of COVID-19 (economic, interpersonal, and health), comfort food consumption, and emotional distress (DASS-21). Using structural equation models, we found an indirect longitudinal effect of the perceived impact of COVID-19 (W1) on comfort food consumption (W3 to W6) through increased emotional distress (W2). The perceived negative impact of COVID-19 on comfort food consumption was fully mediated by the emotional distress during the first waves (W3 and W4), ending in a partial mediation in the last waves (W5 and W6). These findings contribute to disentangling the mechanisms by which the perceived impact of COVID-19 affects comfort food consumption over time, and highlight the role of emotional distress. Future interventions should address comfort food consumption by focusing on handling emotional distress during a crisis.

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COVID0282 National Research and Development Agency (ANID, Chile)

Keywords: COVID-19 pandemic; emotional eating; longitudinal; psychological distress; structural equation modeling

Date Created: 20210702 Date Completed: 20210712 Latest Revision: 20240402

20240402

PMC8228314

10.3390/nu13061910

34199403