The relationship between physical exercise and emotional eating among college students: The role of mindful eating and childhood socioeconomic status

Abstract

Background: Globally, 44.9% of college students engage in emotional eating. Burdened by academic and life stress, many overeat as a maladaptive coping mechanism. It triggers gastrointestinal troubles, weight swings, low self-esteem, bad moods, and poor grades, meriting exploration of its mechanisms. Objective: This study aims to investigate the association between physical exercise and emotional eating among college students, while examining the mediating role of mindful eating and the moderating role of childhood socioeconomic status (SES) within this relationship. Methods: A total of 1,130 college students participated in the survey, including 606 males with a mean age of 20.54 years. The survey employed the Physical Activity Rating Scale, the Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire, the Mindful Eating Questionnaire, and the Childhood Socioeconomic Status Questionnaire. Results: Physical exercise was significantly negatively correlated with emotional eating among college students. Mindful eating partially mediated the relationship between physical exercise and emotional eating. Childhood SES corresponded to varying correlational strengths linking four of the five mindful eating dimensions to emotional eating, while no such differentiated correlational pattern emerged for disinhibition. Specifically, among college students from high childhood SES backgrounds, awareness and external cues showed stronger positive associations with emotional eating, whereas distraction and emotional response showed stronger negative associations with emotional eating. Conclusion: Physical exercise correlated with reduced emotional eating among college students, partly through mindful eating pathways. Childhood SES moderated the second mediation stage in a dimension-specific manner, amplifying both risk-related and protective links depending on the mindful eating facet.