Stress-induced eating in rural adolescents: Unique variability among boys and adolescents with obesity

Stress may contribute to the development of obesity through its effects on dysregulated eating, although this has not yet been examined among low-income, rural adolescents. We examined adolescents’ stress-induced changes in eating an ad libitum meal, and after, in the absence of hunger (EAH), and the extent to which these varied by sex, race, and weight status. Participants included 260 adolescents, drawn from a sample of rural households experiencing poverty. Adolescents completed two home visits while salivary cortisol was measured; during the control (low stress) visit, they completed questionnaires and procedures thought to elicit low levels of stress and had BMI assessed. During the stress visit, adolescents completed a 20-min set of psychosocial stress challenges before eating. At each visit, adolescents consumed an ad-libitum meal after which they were additionally given large portions of snacks (EAH task). Results revealed that indeed cortisol was higher during the stress visit, across the sample. Boys showed stress-induced increases during ad-libitum meal intake (for calories, fat, and carbohydrates) whereas girls exhibited decreased intake. Further, adolescents with obesity showed stress-induced increases in fat intake, but only when hunger was satiated (EAH). There were no differences by race. These findings provide the first evidence of stress-induced alterations in food intake in a rural, low-income sample of adolescents and point to a strong vulnerability for stress-induced increases in eating in rural boys as well as stress-induced increases in fat intake when satiated as a possible contributor to obesity in youth.