Behavior
Exploring Life Satisfaction as a Mediator between Perceived Stress and Eating Behavior in College Students During COVID-19 Marcus Vinicius Nascimento-Ferreira* Marcus Vinicius Nascimento-Ferreira Barbara Saldanha Lima Millena Vaz De Carvalho Jacqueline Fernandes de Sá Xavier Marcia Ferreira Sales Antonio Gibran de Almeida Cardoso Rhavenna Thais Silva Oliveira Shirley Cunha Feuerstein Kliver Antonio Marin Fernando Rodrigues Peixoto Quaresma Ladislau Ribeiro Nascimento Gabriela Berg Augusto César F. de Moraes
Objective: To investigate the mediating effect of satisfaction with life on the association between perceived stress and eating behavior in college students during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Methods: This research is part of the 24-hour movement behavior (physical activity, screen time, and sleep) and metabolic syndrome (24h-MESYN) study. The sample was 195 college students from a low-income region from Brazil (Imperatriz, MA; Gini Index of 0.56), composed of 68.7% females, 44.6% aged between 21 to 25 years; 65.8% enrolled in a health sciences degree; 24.5% enrolled in the 1st to 3rd semester. We assessed perceived stress, satisfaction with life, and eating behavior using the Satisfaction with Life Scale, Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire, and Perceived Stress Scale. We assessed external, restrained, and emotional eating scores as outcomes. The potential confounders were biological sex, age, ethnicity, maternal education, degree program, shift, time, number of classes enrolled, and daily study hours. We performed structural equation modeling with bootstrapping procedures.
Results: Perceived stress was negatively associated with satisfaction with life (β: -0.355 [CI95%: -0.460 to -0.251]), and satisfaction with life was negatively associated with external eating (β: -0.018 [CI95%: -0.033 to -0.004]). A significant positive total effect was found (β: 0.019 [CI95%: 0.010 to 0.029]), with both indirect (β: 0.006 [CI95%: 0.001 to 0.012]) and direct effects (β: 0.013 [CI95%: 0.002 to 0.023]) statistically significant. Mediation explained 33.9% of the total effect. No mediated effects were observed for restrained eating or emotional eating.
Conclusion: Satisfaction with life seems to mediate the association between perceived stress and external eating. The findings suggest that satisfaction with life could be a protective mechanism in stressful life events experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic.