Relationship between emotional eating and coping with stress of nursing students

Purpose This research aims to determine the relationship between the coping skills and emotional eating habits of young adults. Design and Methods The population consisted of 473 nursing students whom registered in the Faculty of Health Sciences at a state university in Turkey during 2018 and 2019 education terms. Data were collected through the Demographic Form, Turkish Emotional Eating Scale (TEES), and Coping Style Scale (CSS). Findings "Eating in anxiety" (r = -.174;P = .000) and "eating in the negative mood" (r = -.123;P = .007) subscale scores of TEES showed a statistically significant, negative correlation with the "self-confident approach" subscale score of CSS. Practice Implications In light of the data, it is suggested to increase the frequency of psychological counseling offered for these students and setup behavior change training either an individual or group settings. Besides, the conjoint effort of health professionals and psychiatric nurses would be highly beneficial for the development of effective assessment tools to determine students at risk and engage in appropriate prevention strategies such as training programs that would have a direct impact on the students' habitual diet. Subsequent research is recommended incorporating additional variables such as body perception, ideal female image, expectations of perfection toward the body, and self-worth defined thru the body.