The Relationship Between Emotional Eating and the Nutritional Status of Medical Undergraduate Students at the University of Indonesia

Abstract

Medical students experience substantial academic demands that may trigger emotional eating, an eating behavior influenced by emotional states rather than physiological hunger. Persistent emotional eating may contribute to excessive calorie intake and negatively affect nutritional status. This study aimed to describe emotional eating levels, assess nutritional status based on Body Mass Index (BMI), and analyze the association between emotional eating and nutritional status among undergraduate medical students at Prima Indonesia University. A quantitative cross-sectional study was conducted among 218 undergraduate medical students selected from a population of 480 using the Slovin formula and proportional random sampling. Emotional eating was assessed using the 13-item Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire (DEBQ), while nutritional status was determined based on BMI classification according to the Indonesian Ministry of Health guidelines. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and the chi-square test with a significance level of p < 0.05. Most respondents were female (69.3%). High emotional eating was reported by 54.1% of students, followed by moderate (29.4%) and low (16.5%) levels. Although the largest single BMI category was normal weight (33.0%), 62.9% of respondents were classified as overweight or obese. The proportion of students with high emotional eating increased across higher BMI categories, from 55.3% among overweight students to 66.7% among students with class II obesity. The chi-square test showed a significant association between emotional eating and nutritional status (p = 0.016). Emotional eating was significantly associated with nutritional status among undergraduate medical students.