To better understand the relation between emotional eating and dietary choices, dietary correlates of emotional eating were investigated in an adolescent sample. Participants were 617 predominantly Latino middle school students from seven schools in Los Angeles County. Analyses of cross-sectional data revealed that emotional eating was associated with increased frequency of intake of sweet high energy-dense foods, such as cake and ice cream, salty high energy-dense foods like chips, and soda. Gender stratified analyses revealed an association between emotional eating and more frequent fruit and vegetable intake in boys only, and a positive association between emotional eating and salty high energy-dense intake in both boys and girls. These data support previous literature that reports a preference for high energy-dense food in emotional eating, and shows that this association may be generalizable to Latino youth. Considering that emotional eating may lead to overeating because it often takes place in the absence of hunger, it may be appropriate to develop interventions to teach youth healthier substitutions and regulate mood by means other than eating in order to reduce risk for obesity, especially in high risk populations, such as Latinos.
Get Moving! is a promising school-based approach that specifically targets physical activity and sedentary behavior in Latina girls, a population at high risk for obesity and related diseases.
Physical activity is often recommended as a strategy for managing stress. Although associations among physical activity, stress, and hassles have been documented among adults and children, they have not been studied extensively in college populations. This cross‐sectional study employed an ethnically diverse sample of 814 male and female students from three types of colleges in southern California to examine the relationship between physical activity and two indices of stress. Anonymous paper‐and‐pencil questionnaires were used to assess a number of psychosocial and behavioral constructs, including perceived stress, hassles, and leisure time physical activity. Significant gender, ethnic and college differences were found in levels of physical activity, perceived stress, and hassles. Hierarchical linear models showed a significant negative relationship between physical activity and hassles. Considering the deleterious effects of stress and sedentary behavior on health, these results have implications for lifetime physical and mental health. Thus, health promotion programs for college students may benefit from incorporation of physical activity strategies to reduce stress. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Numerous studies have shown associations between smoking and depression, but the generalizability of the relationship across ethnic groups remains unknown. The present study assessed the association between depression and smoking intention and experimentation among adolescents from four ethnic groups in the Los Angeles area-Chinese/Chinese American, Latino/Hispanic, Persian/Iranian, and White. Over 800 7th graders in the Los Angeles area completed measures of depressive symptoms, experimentation with smoking, intention to smoke, and sociodemographic covariates. Chinese/Chinese American students had the lowest levels of depressive symptoms, whereas Latinos/Hispanics had the highest levels. Latinos/Hispanics also were the most likely to intend to smoke in the next year and were the most likely to have started experimenting with cigarette smoking. Depressive symptoms were significantly associated with intention to smoke even after controlling for language use acculturation, socioeconomic status, gender, and ethnicity. The association between depressive symptoms and intention to smoke did not vary significantly across ethnic groups. These results indicate that the association between depressive symptoms and adolescent smoking generalizes across diverse ethnic groups.
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