Introduction:

Through the years there have been many studies/researches

about stress and how it affects a person in general. Nonetheless, present
popular concepts are mostly focused on changes in behaviour and
attitude towards other people. I, the researcher wants to know if there
are significant changes in a person’s eating pattern while he/she is under
stress or other emotional triggers specifically on college students. It is
important to venture the probability of heightened/lowered food
consumption, due stress and other emotional triggers to contribute to
further studies about this issues. In this study relationship between stress
level and eating patterns be identified for people to be aware if there is
a significant relationship between stress and food consumption, with the
aid of present literatures and studies, the researcher would be able to
spread light to this effort.

Stress is not a new phenomenon. In fact, “stress has been around

and has been noticed for ages” (Neil, 1994; p. 3). To some it may refer to
an emotion that is regarded as uncomfortable while to others it has
something to do with physical sensation and gives focus to how it affects
one’s manner of thinking (Keri Glassman, R.D, 017). Although, there may
be different connotations about stress, one thing is for sure, stress
affects every aspect of life including eating patterns in fact “stress affects
eating behaviour” (Greeno and Wing, 1994). Eating, by definition is the
ingestion of food, typically to provide energy and to allow growth, and so
eating is generally good and essential for our wellbeing and survival, but
when does eating become unhealthy and harmful? And how does stress
affect the way a person eats? Study shows that in short term, stress can
shut down appetite but if stress persists, it's a different story, it is when
Stress/Emotional eating happens. Stress/Emotional eating is a
phenomenon that affects people in a way that when a person is
continuously feeling down, stressed, agitated, or even bored he/she
tends to eat more, and “crave for comfort foods such as foods high in fat,
sugar or both” (Adams CE, et al. 2011). Stress/Emotional eating is using
food to make oneself feel better-eating to satisfy emotional need, rather
than to satisfy physical hunger. Stress/Emotional eating poses a problem
because people don’t just eat to satisfy their physiological needs, many
turn to food to relieve stress or cope with unpleasant emotions such as
sadness, loneliness, or boredom (Keri Glassman, R.D., 2018). It may feel
good at the moment, but unfortunately, that anxiety-induced hunger can
have long-term consequences for your waistline. “In fact, one new study
found that people who reported they were stressed burned fewer
calories and fat, and had a higher insulin response after eating a higher
fat meal” (McCreery, 2015). Recent researches points mostly on negative
effect of Stress/Emotional Eating because of its underlying effects. This
study aims to show if there is a significant change in a person’s eating
pattern during stress and other emotional triggers.

Theoretical Background:
The Theory of Planned Behaviour
The Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) started as the Theory of
Reasoned Action in 1980 to predict an individual's intention to engage in
a behaviour at a specific time and place. The theory was intended to
explain all behaviours over which people have the ability to exert self-
control. The key component to this model is behavioural intent;
behavioural intentions are influenced by the attitude about the
likelihood that the behaviour will have the expected outcome and the
subjective evaluation of the risks and benefits of that outcome. His
beliefs and intentions will somehow direct on how he/she will act. The
TBP has been used successfully to predict and explain a wide range of
health behaviours and intentions including smoking, drinking, and
excessive eating, among others. The TBP states that behavioural
achievement depends on both motivation (intention) and ability
(behavioural control). It distinguishes three types of beliefs - behavioural,
normative, and control. This theory is useful for the study because we
will be identifying people’s response to different kind of stressors in
which his/her belief will take place on how to handle the latter and with
consideration of his/her surrounding influences.
6 constructs that collectively represent person’s actual control
over the behaviour.
 1. Attitudes – this refers to the degree to which a person has a
favourable or unfavourable evaluation of the behaviour of
interests.
2. Behavioural intention – this refers to the motivational
factors that influence a given behaviour where the stronger
the intention to perform the behaviour, the more likely the
behaviour will be performed.
3. Subjective norms – this refers to the belief about whether
most people approve or disapprove of the behaviour.
4. Social norms – this refers to the customary codes of
behaviour in a group or people or larger cultural context.
5. Perceived power – this refers to the perceived presence of
factors that may facilitate or impede performance of a
behaviour.
6. Perceived behavioural control – this refers to a person’s
perception of the ease or difficulty of performing the
behaviour of interest.

Review of Related Literature:

According to Elaine N. Marieb (author of Anatomy and
Physiology) “stress as stress is a physical, mental, or emotional factor that
causes bodily or mental tension”. Stress is thought to influence human
eating behaviour, and has been examined in animal and human studies.
Stress appears to alter overall food intake. Chronic life stress seems to be
associated with a greater preference for energy and nutrient dense
foods, namely those that are high in sugar and fat (Susan J. Torres and
Caryl A. Nowson, 2007). Science plays and important role in this
phenomenon, a complex array of internal and external factors influences
appetite and consequently the amount and types of food consumed by
humans. Internal factors include physiological mechanisms which
regulate appetite, with hormones such as neuropeptide Y stimulating
food intake and leptin reducing food intake (Susan J. Torres and Caryl A.
Nowson, 2007), also stress as well as palatable food can stimulate
endogenous opioid release. In turn, opioid release appears to be part of
an organisms’ powerful defence mechanism protecting from the
detrimental effects of stress by decreasing activity of the HPS axis and
this attenuating the stress response. Repeated stimulation may lead to
neurological adaptations that promote the compulsive nature of
overeating (Tanja C. Adam, Ekissa S. Epel, 2007), External factors can also
influence food intake and include environmental factors (eg. Economic
and food availability), and Social Factors (eg. Influence of others).
SRESS RESPONSE
Stress can be defined as “the generalized, none—specific
response of the body to any factor that overwhelms, or threatens to
overwhelm, the body’s compensatory abilities to maintain homeostasis”.
The following stressors can induce a stress response: Physical stressors
(trauma, surgery, intense heat or cold); Chemical stressors (reduced
oxygen supply, acid-base imbalance); physiological stressors (heavy
exercise, haemorrhagic shock, pain); Psychological or Emotional
stressors (anxiety, fear, sorrow); and Social stressors (personal conflicts,
change in lifestyle). Stressors can be short-tem (acute) or occur on a daily
basis (chronic stress). Responses to acute or chronic stress can lead to
physiological changes. Anxiety, depression, uneasiness, anger, apathy,
and alienation are emotions that commonly accompany chronic stress.
The response to acute or chronic stress also include a number of
modifying behaviours such as alcohol consumption, smoking, and
excessive eating (Susan J. Torres and Caryl A. Nowson, 2007).
PSYCHOLOGY OF THE STRESS RESPONSE AND EATING
The cognitive model of stress explains how stress appraisal, the
value and meaning we assign to the stress stimuli, determines how
‘harmful, a stressor is. When people feel stressed by something going on
around them, their bodies react by releasing chemicals into the blood.
These chemicals give people more energy and strength, which can be a
good thing if their stress is caused by physical danger. But this can also
be a bad thing, if their stress is in response to something emotional and
there is no outlet for this extra energy and strength. In us humans, when
“threat stress” includes a threat in one’s social self-concept, such as
having some aspect of public embarrassment, failure, or stress, it is an
even more potent trigger of cortisol release (hunger hormone) (Tanja C.
Adam, Ekissa S. Epel, 2007).

Problem:
People who turn into food for comfort are not fully aware on what
it does to their body in the long run. It is a must that people should know
the benefits and drawbacks of Stress induced eating and find out if there
is a significant relationship between stress and food consumption.

Hypothesis:
If a person (college students) experiences prolonged stress, then
he/she has a tendency to eat more.

Null Hypothesis:
There is no significant relationship between stress and Food
consumption.

METHODOLOGY:
While conducting this research, College students (N-30) from
South Western University Phinma (specifically from Psychology
department) were given questionnaires that contained 2 sections, first is
the level of stress that the college students are experiencing as the
independent variable, scores that ranges from 1-20=least, 21-40=normal,
and 41-60=Intense, second is their food consumption as the dependent
variable in which shows how often and how much they eat per day ,
scores that ranges from 1-20=seldom, 21-40=neutral, and 41-60=often.
Materials:
All participants were given 2 sets of questionnaires with 20
questions each, 20 questions contains choices for the stress level with a
scale (1-20 = least, 21-40 = normal, 41-60 = intense), the other 20
questions contains choices for food consumption with a scale (1-20 =
seldom, 21-40 = neutral, 41-60 = often).
Research Design:
Bivariate Correlational Design – used to assess the
relationship between variable 1 and variable 2
Procedure:
Questionnaires were only given to willing individuals (college
students) who would like to participate in the said study, they answered
the questionnaire in an environment where they are comfortable. Clear
and concise instructions were given beforehand. After gathering all the
results, the researcher then proceeds to get the statistical value of the
20 respondents and see if the study shows a significant relationship
between stress and food consumption.

Results:
Table 1.0
Level of Stress f Rel. f Cf Percentile
57 6 0.3 20 100
55 3 0.15 14 70
53 4 0.2 11 55
49 2 0.1 7 35
47 1 0.05 5 25
45 1 0.05 4 20
44 1 0.05 3 15
38 2 0.1 2 10
N 20
Table 1.1
Food Consumption f Rel. f Cf Percentile
55 1 0.05 20 100
54 2 0.1 19 95
50 4 0.2 17 85
48 3 0.15 13 65
47 4 0.2 10 50
45 1 0.05 6 30
43 1 0.05 5 25
40 2 0.1 4 20
36 2 0.1 2 10
N 20

Table 1.2
DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS
N Range Mean Median Mode
Stress Level 30 19 51.45 48 57
Food Consumption 30 19 46.75 47 50 & 47
Valin n (listwise) 30

Figure 1.0 (Relationship between stress and food consumption)

Correlation:

Discussion:
This study was conducted to assess the effects of stress on
college students in relation to how much food will they consume. The
hypothesis’ main purpose is to point the correlation between the 2
variables, namely stress and food consumption and find possible
evidence that exposure to stress could affect ones eat behaviour.
Table 1.0 – Most participants are in the range of 41-60,
thus they have heightened level of stress per daily basis
Table 1.1 – Most participants are in the range of 41-60, in
which we can assume that they tend to eat often.
Table 1.2 – the table shows that the mean leans more
towards the level of intense and often, which we can interpret and
predict that the average score of the participants is between 41-60 for
the stress level and 41-60 for the food consumption
Figure 1 – In the scatterplot we can see a somehow
strong and somehow weak relationship, strong because it is pointing
upwards with points in between, while weak because of their distance
between each other. But in the correlational results it was shown that
variable 1 (stress level) and variable 2 (food consumption) has a weak
relationship.
Table 1.3 – In this table we can clearly see that stress has
no significance and shows weak relationship towards experiencing stress
and ones’ food consumption. Rather it is beneficial if other aspects be
explored.
Conclusion:
The correlation result shows a p – value of 0.949, ergo,
disproved my original hypothesis, thus making my study of the two sets
of variables null. The result in tables shows that a person’s level of stress
has no significant effect on his/her food consumption even though there
is a weak relationship between the 2 variable. In the end, it turned out to
be a null hypothesis.

References:
Elaine Nicpon Marieb.
Human Anatomy & Physiology (1989)

Greeno, Catherine G., Wing, Rena R.

Self-induced eating (1994)

Neil, R. (1994). Stress: Taming the tyrant. Brushton, NY:

TEACH Services Inc.

Keri Glassman, R.D.

Are you stress eating? How to spot and prevent this habit (2017)

Dr. Selena T. Nguyen-Rodriguez

Relationship between stress, eating behaviour, and obesity

Susan J. Torres (M. Nutr. Diet) and Caryl A. Nowson (PhD)

Relationship between stress and eating behaviour