Young Students’ Perceptions of Factors That Can Contribute to Emotional Eating in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Abstract

The present study is aimed to establishing young students’ perceptions of factors that can contribute to emotional eating in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. It has been noted that emotional eating contributes to obesity and other negative impacts of heath and therefore need to examine perceived factors that contributes to it.  The study involved 60 adolescents aged from 12 to 15 years from Riyadh in Saudi Arabia. A survey questionnaire developed from the objectives of the study was used to collect data from all the 60 participants. The findings indicate that there are number of factors such as social, physical and psychological that contributes to emotional eating.  Both the literature review and the survey underlined revealed that students were influenced   by multiple factors to get into emotional eating. The study concluded that emotional eating is a complex behaviour that could result in unhealthy emotional and physical states. The study thereby recommended that there is need to address the social, physical and psychological factors that contribute emotional eating.

Keywords: emotional eating, young students and social, physical and psychological factors