Health Psychology, 2nd Edition

STRESS THEORY AND RESEARCH 57

Daily hassles and eating behaviour (O’Connor et al., 2008a)

Background

When under pressure we may be more likely to skip exercise sessions and replace

nourishing meals with quick fast food snacks or indulge in comfort eating of sweets

and other high fat foods. Such negative health behaviours may be one of the ways

in which stress indirectly contributes to both cardiovascular disease and cancer risk.

This study set out to explore the complex relationship between stress (assessed as

daily hassles) and eating behaviour in a sample of employed men and women in a

naturalistic setting using a multi-level prospective diary design.

The study also aimed to explore the different types of stressors that may affect

changes in eating behaviour. A number of researchers have previously found that

particular types of stress had different effects on eating. For example, in the

laboratory, Heatherton and colleagues (1991, 1992) found stressors of an ego-

threatening nature (e.g. where there is a fear of failure) were associated with an

increase in eating whereas physical threats (e.g. fear of an electric shock) led to a

decrease in eating. Therefore, the study described here looked at the effect of a

range of different daily hassles, namely ego-threatening, interpersonal, physical and

work-related stressors.

A final aim of the study was to investigate the influence of individual difference

variables on the relationship between hassles and eating. Individual difference

models of stress hypothesize that certain groups of individuals will show different

responses to stress (e.g. the obese and non-obese; women and men; and those

with certain eating styles such as emotional eating). In addition, few previous

studies have explored multiple individual differences variables, therefore not

allowing conclusions to be drawn about the relative importance of these different

variables (e.g. Conner, Fitter and Fletcher, 1999; O’Connor and O’Connor, 2004).

Design and methods

A total of 422 employees completed daily diaries over 4 weeks in which they

recorded daily hassles and provided free response reports of between-meal

snacking, fruit and vegetable consumption and perceived variations in daily food

intake. Eating styles were assessed using the Dutch Eating Behaviour

Questionnaire and the Three Factor Eating Questionnaire. Each of the hassles

reported was coded by independent raters as to whether or not it was ego-

threatening (e.g. job interview, public talk, criticism); interpersonal (e.g. argument

with partner, family problems, visiting relatives); work-related (e.g. difficult work

task, late for meeting, deadline); or physical in nature (e.g. anxious/frightened,

feeling ill). The data were analysed using a technique known as hierarchical linear

modelling, which allowed the researchers to examine the day-to-day changes (in

hassles and eating) together with the eating style variables.

RESEARCH METHODS 3.3