Snacking and Diet Quality Are Associated With the Coping Strategies Used By a Socioeconomically Diverse Urban Cohort of African-American and White Adults

Abstract

Background Stress affects health-related quality of life through several pathways including physiological processes and health behaviors. There is always a relationship between stress, the stimulus, and coping, the response. The relationship of snacking and snackers’ diet quality, to stress-coping is a topic overlooked in research. Objectives The study was primarily designed to determine whether energy provided by snacks and diet quality were associated with coping behaviors to manage stress. Design Baseline cohort of the Healthy Aging in Neighborhoods of Diversity across the Life Span study (2004–2009). Participants Sample was comprised of 2,177 socioeconomically diverse African American and White adults who resided in Baltimore, MD. Main outcome measures Energy from snacks was calculated from 2 days of 24-hour dietary recalls collected using US Department of Agriculture’s Automated Multiple Pass Method. Snack occasions were self-reported as distinct eating occasions. Diet quality was evaluated by the Healthy Eating Index (HEI)-2010. Statistical analyses performed Multiple regression analyses were used to determine whether coping factors were associated with either energy provided by snacks or HEI-2010, adjusting for age, sex, race, socioeconomic status, education, literacy, and perceived stress. Coping was measured by the Brief COPE Inventory with instrument variables categorized into three factors - problem-focused coping, emotion-focused coping, and use of support. Perceived stress was measured with the 4-item Perceived Stress Scale by Cohen. Results Adjusting for perceived stress and selected demographic characteristics, emotion-focused coping strategies were associated with greater energy intakes from snacks (P=0.020), while use of coping strategies involving support was positively associated with better diet quality (P=0.009). Conclusions Energy contributed by snacks and diet quality were affected by the strategy an individual used to cope with stress. The findings suggest that health professionals working with individuals seeking guidance to modify their eating practices should assess a person’s coping strategies to manage stress.

Optimism is associated with diet quality, food group consumption and snacking behavior in a general population

“…To our knowledge, there is no data available assessing the association between optimism and snacking behavior. Snacking has been associated with depressive symptomatology [65], perceived stress [66] and coping strategies [67]. We can hypothesize that the better coping strategies observed in more optimistic individuals [29] lead to lower psychological distress [68,69], which can in turn decrease snacking through lower emotional eating.…”

From Risk to Resilience: How Lifestyle Factors Interact with Early-Life Trauma, Genetic Polymorphisms, and Stress, in Predicting Risk for Depression

“…It was further observed that a positive relation existed between the non-prudent dietary pattern and emotion focused coping, but again, only for individuals with the GG genotype. This positive relation between a non-prudent dietary pattern and emotion focused coping is in line with previous research (Kuczmarski et al, 2017). Again, given the possibility that the dietary pattern and genotype might produce excessive amounts of inflammation and impair cognitive flexibility, this impairment may also contribute to persistent use of emotionfocused coping strategies, as individuals who are less flexible in the use of their coping methods tend to endorse emotion-focused coping strategies to a greater degree (Gabrys, Anisman, & Matheson, 2018).…”

“…The present findings indicated that dietary patterns were not related to any of the outcome variables. This was somewhat surprising, given the abundance of past research indicating that diet may be predictive of cognition (e.g., Freeman, Haley-Zitlin, Rosenberger, & Granholm, 2014), coping (e.g., Kuczmarski et al, 2017), and depression (e.g., O'Neil et al, 2014). The present findings also revealed that both dimensions of cognitive flexibility (cognitive control and cognitive resources) were highly correlated, and that both dimensions were negatively associated with emotion-focused coping, typical and atypical depressive symptoms, and that only cognitive resources was positively correlated with problem-focused coping, which is in line with previous research (Gabrys, Anisman, & Matheson, 2018).…”

“…Indeed, individuals who exercised more frequently, tended to endorse problem-focused coping methods to a greater extent than individuals who didn't exercise as frequently (Azizi, 2011). Likewise, a higher intake of snack foods was associated with a greater use of emotion-focused strategies during stressful events, and a healthier dietary quality was associated with more support seeking strategies (Kuczmarski et al, 2017). Given the associations between these lifestyles factors and coping selection, and that coping selection can be influenced by the controllability of a stressor, the possibility that diet and exercise might interact with the controllability of a stressor in predicting coping use was entertained.…”

“…Just as dietary patterns are related to depressive symptoms, they have also been associated with coping selection during stressful encounters. Indeed, elevated intake of snack foods was associated with a greater use of emotion-focused strategies during stressful events, whereas healthier dietary quality was associated with more support seeking strategies (Kuczmarski et al, 2017).…”