The relationship between perceived stress and emotional eating among university students in Saudi Arabia.

Background: Emotional eating is defined as eating to alleviate negative emotions and is a maladaptive strategy to cope with stress. This cross-sectional study aims to evaluate the relationship between perceived stress and emotional eating among female university students from Saudi Arabia, a population potentially influenced by academic stress and cultural norms.

Methods: This cross-sectional study included 1050 female university students, with an average age of 21 ± 5. The data was collected from August 2023 to July 2024 by snowball sampling technique. The Emotional Eater Questionnaire, a validated Arabic version, was used to assess eating behaviour, and the 10-item Cohen Perceived Stress Scale, an Arabic version, was used to evaluate individuals' perceptions of stress.

Results: About 21% of the students were classified as highly emotional eaters, while 54% were classified as emotional eaters. Perceived stress levels was moderate for 57.9% of the students, while 41.5% reported high levels of stress. Emotional eating was found to be significantly associated with perceived stress (P-value < 0.05). Multivariate regression analysis revealed that students in higher academic years (β = 0.079, CI = 0.083, 0.542) and those with higher perceived stress scores (β = 0.298, CI = 0.321, 0.475) were significant predictors of emotional eating.

Conclusion: The findings indicate a significant association between emotional eating, higher academic year of study, and elevated levels of perceived stress. However, given the cross-sectional nature of the study, causality cannot be established. Further longitudinal and interventional studies are needed to confirm the effectiveness of stress management programs in reducing emotional eating.