Psychometric characteristics of the Eating and Appraisal Due to Emotions and Stress Questionnaire and obesity in Mexican university students.

Introduction: Emotional eating has been defined as eating in a response to negative emotions and it is associated with weight gain. The English version of Eating Appraisal Due to Emotions and Stress Questionnaire (EADES) was developed to assess how individuals use food in order to cope with stress and emotions.

Objective: To analyze psychometric characteristics of Spanish version of EADES and to identify whether the constructs of EADES were associated with obesity in university students.

Methods: The EADES (Spanish version) was administered to 232 Mexican university students from 18 to 29 years old. Body Mass Index (BMI) was calculated. A test-retest evaluation was conducted with 75 participants.

Results: Cronbach's alpha of EADES was 0.92; the interclass correlation coefficient was 0.88. Regarding BMI and EADES results, the subscale Emotion and Stress Related Eating was significantly associated with obesity (p = 0.026). Through factor analysis of the instrument, three factors were extracted and items that showed factor loading < 0.40 were eliminated. 40 items remained in the questionnaire. With regard to obesity and the 40-items version of the instrument, a statistically significance association was found for the total score (OR = 0.973, p = 0.020) and for the factor Self-confidence related to Emotional Eating component (OR = 0.940, p = 0.026).

Conclusions: A good internal consistency and temporal stability of the Spanish version of the instrument were found; the 40-item EADES version was positively associated with obesity. This instrument could be useful in assessing emotional eating.