An examination of emotional eating, perception, and controllability in relation to physical fitness

Although the prevalence of overweight individuals has drastically increased over the last several decades, research has shown some of these individuals are metabolically healthy. Participants (N = 65) completed several questionnaires concerning their perceptions, eating habits, and health, and engaged in a physical fitness test. Perception of control was expected to mediate the relationship between perception of self and emotional eating and perception of self and physical activity. Mediational analyses did not fully support the expected relationships, but correlational analyses demonstrated several significant relationships between the psychological variables and health-related items; participants who rated themselves heavier also took longer to complete the mile, r (65) = .30, p = .01, and emotional eaters tend to have lower BMIs, r (65) = -.34, p < .01. Researchers expect that modifying the scales used to measure perception of self and perception of control should strengthen and clarify the relationships between the variables.