Factores psicológicos que predicen la alimentación emocional en estudiantes universitarios: retos para la salud y el bienestar integral
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47197/retos.v70.116301Palabras clave:
Alimentación emocional, calidad de vida, nutrición, salud mental, salud y bienestarResumen
Introducción: en los últimos años, la alimentación emocional ha recibido una creciente atención debido a su impacto en la salud y el bienestar. Diversas investigaciones han demostrado cómo las emociones pueden influir en los patrones de consumo, llevando a las personas a comer en respuesta a estados afectivos más que por necesidades fisiológicas.
Objetivo: determinar si la depresión, ansiedad y estrés predicen la alimentación emocional en una muestra de estudiantes universitarios de la Amazonía peruana.
Metodología: se adoptó un enfoque cuantitativo, bajo un diseño no experimental de tipo predictivo. La muestra estuvo compuesta por 436 estudiantes universitarios, quienes completaron la Escala de Depresión, Ansiedad y Estrés (DASS-21) y el Cuestionario sobre Alimentación Emocional, ambos instrumentos con propiedades psicométricas adecuadas.
Resultados: el modelo de regresión fue estadísticamente significativo (F= 75.692, p<0.05), explicando el 34.5% de la varianza en la alimentación emocional (R²= .345). Entre las variables evaluadas, la depresión (β= 0.153, p<0.05), la ansiedad (β= 0.227, p<0.05) y el estrés (β= 0.258, p<0.05) predijeron significativamente mayores niveles de alimentación emocional. Además, se observó que las mujeres presentaron mayores niveles de depresión, ansiedad, estrés y alimentación emocional, mientras que los estudiantes más jóvenes mostraron mayor ansiedad (p<0.05). Por otro lado, no se encontraron diferencias estadísticamente significativas según la condición laboral ni en la situación sentimental, salvo en ansiedad (p>0.05).
Discusión: a pesar de que algunos estudios respaldan estos hallazgos, se requieren investigaciones adicionales para corroborar y ampliar estos resultados.
Conclusiones: la depresión, ansiedad y estrés predicen la alimentación emocional en una muestra de estudiantes universitarios de la Amazonía peruana.
Citas
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