Stress-induced eating and drinking and their associations with weight among women and men during 30-year follow-up

Figures & data

Table 1. Distributions of study variables.

	Women		Men
Variable	N	Mean (SD)/% (N)	N	Mean (SD)/% (N)	Gender differencep^a
Stress-induced eating, 22 y, yes	806	47.9 (386)	687	15.3 (105)	<0.001
Stress-induced eating, 32 y, yes	741	55.2 (409)	593	19.6 (116)	<0.001
Stress-induced eating, 42 y, yes	674	42.9 (289)	549	10.9 (60)	<0.001
Stress-induced eating, 52 y, yes	601	40.8 (245)	465	14.6 (68)	<0.001
Number of follow-ups in which stress-induced eating was reported	842	1.50 (1.23)	694	0.45 (0.80)	<0.001
Stress-induced drinking, 22 y, yes	830	18.8 (156)	688	28.6 (197)	<0.001
Stress-induced drinking, 32 y, yes	770	11.7 (90)	623	18.8 (117	<0.001
Stress-induced drinking, 42 y, yes	711	15.8 (112)	557	19.7 (110)	0.063
Stress-induced drinking, 52 y, yes	623	14.8 (92)	478	18.6 (89)	0.087
Number of follow-ups in which stress-induced drinking was reported	857	0.50 (0.19)	698	0.64 (0.90)	0.003
BMI, 22 y	874	21.60 (3.03)	759	23.02 (2.64)	<0.001
BMI, 32 y	758	23.76 (4.31)	662	25.27 (3.61)	<0.001
BMI, 42 y	716	25.53 (5.03)	596	26.81 (4.39)	<0.001
BMI, 52 y	640	27.25 (5.52)	510	28.16 (4.75)	0.003
Control variables
Graduated high school, 22 y	890	54.3 (483)	766	43.6 (334)	<0.001
College-level or higher, 32 y	798	61.2 (488)	665	46.2 (307)	<0.001
College-level or higher, 42 y	728	67.7 (493)	596	53.5 (319)	<0.001
College-level or higher, 52 y	645	69.9 (451)	508	59.1 (300)	<0.001
College-level or higher at age of 32, 42 or 52 at follow-up	923	69.1 (638)	837	52.0 (435)	<0.001
Married or cohabiting, 22 y	890	38.7 (344)	766	20.1 (154)	<0.001
Married or cohabiting, 32 y	803	77.1 (619)	664	72.9 (484)	0.064
Married or cohabiting, 42 y	734	74.9 (550)	600	80.2 (481)	0.023
Married or cohabiting, 52 y	648	74.1 (480)	512	78.1 (400)	0.109
Married or cohabiting in most of the follow-ups	1004	76.2 (765)	951	70.6 (671)	0.005

^a Gender difference was tested by the X²-test for dichotomous variables and by one-way ANOVA for continuous variables.

Figure 1. BMI means by use of stress-induced eating and drinking among women and men at different ages.

Table 2. BMI at ages 22, 32, 42 and 52 by stress-induced eating and stress-induced drinking among women and men. Linear Regression.

	Women						Men
	Unadjusted			Adjusted^b			Unadjusted			Adjusted^b
	B (Cl 95%)	p	R^2	B (Cl 95%)	p	R^2	B (Cl 95%)	p	R^2	B (Cl 95%)	p	R^2
Stress-induced eating, 22 y	0.78^a (0.37–1.20)	<0.001	0.013	0.86^a (0.44 − 1.27)	<0.001	0.028	−0.03^a (-0.58–0.52)	0.922	−0.001	−0.03^a (-0.58–0.52)	0.904	−0.002
Stress-induced eating, 32 y	1.68 (1.06–2.31)	<0.001	0.037	1.69^a (1.06–2.32)	<0.001	0.058	1.13 (0.39–1.86)	0.003	0.014	1.30^a (0.58–2.03)	<0.001	0.040
Stress-induced eating, 42 y	3.55^a (2.82–4.29)	<0.001	0.120	3.54 (2.81–4.28)	<0.001	0.126	2.05^a (0.89–3.21)	0.001	0.020	2.20 (1.04–3.35)	<0.001	0.047
Stress-induced eating, 52 y	3.56 (2.72–4.40)	<0.001	0.103	3.60 (2.76–4.44)	<0.001	0.112	2.64 (1.48–3.80)	<0.001	0.039	2.90 (1.74–4.06)	<0.001	0.081
Stress-induced drinking, 22 y	0.60 (0.07–1.13)	0.027	0.005	0.52 (-0.02–1.05)	0.059	0.014	0.21 (-0.23–0.66)	0.340	0.000	0.18 (-0.27–0.63)	0.426	−0.001
Stress-induced drinking, 32 y	0.70 (-0.26–1.67)	0.154	0.001	0.61 (-0.37–1.58)	0.223	0.019	0.22 (-0.52–0.95)	0.565	−0.001	0.31 (-0.44–1.05)	0.415	0.017
Stress-induced drinking, 42 y	1.12 (0.08–2.15)	0.035	0.005	1.20 (0.16–2.23)	0.024	0.013	0.62 (-0.31–1.54)	0.193	0.001	0.41 (-0.52–1.35)	0.384	0.025
Stress-induced drinking, 52 y	0.53 (-0.70–1.77)	0.396	0.000	0.39 (-0.85–1.63)	0.539	0.003	1.45 (0.34–2.55)	0.010	0.012	1.33 (0.22–2.43)	0.019	0.038

^a Interaction between gender and coping variable p < 0.05. Interactions were tested using linear regression.

^b Models were adjusted for education and marital status.

Note: Analyzing the associations using 4-point scales produced similar findings as presented here using dichotomized variables.

Figure 2. BMI trajectories predicted by number of follow-ups (0–4) in which stress-induced eating was reported. No stress-induced eating = stress-induced eating reported in none of the follow-ups; stress-induced eating = stress-induced eating reported in three of the follow-ups.

Figure 3. BMI trajectories predicted by the number of follow-ups (0–4) in which stress-induced drinking was reported. No stress-induced drinking = stress-induced drinking was reported in none of the follow-ups; stress-induced drinking = stress-induced drinking was reported in three of the follow-ups.

Table 3. Latent growth factors of BMI trajectories (age 22–52) predicted by number of follow-ups (0–4) in which stress-induced eating or drinking was reported in Latent Growth Models.

	Women						Men
	Unadjusted			Adjusted^b			Unadjusted			Adjusted^b
Latent growth factors	B	SE	p	B	SE	p	B	SE	p	B	SE	p
Stress-induced eating
Intercept	0.94	0.12	<0.001	0.98	0.12	<0.001	0.59	0.24	0.016	0.60	0.24	0.012
Slope	0.21	0.04	<0.001	0.22	0.04	<0.001	0.24	0.08	0.002	0.24	0.08	0.002
Quadratic	−0.02	0.03	0.429	−0.03	0.03	0.352	0.02	0.05	0.631	0.03	0.05	0.619
Stress-induced drinking
Intercept	0.26	0.19	0.165	0.25	0.19	0.202	0.22	0.17	0.200	0.22	0.17	0.194
Slope	0.01^a	0.06	0.893	0.00^a	0.06	0.945	0.18^a	0.07	0.006	0.17^a	0.06	0.008
Quadratic	0.02	0.05	0.696	0.02	0.05	0.705	0.05	0.04	0.185	0.05	0.04	0.180

^a Interaction between gender and BMI trajectory p < 0.05.

^b Models were adjusted for education and marital status.

Table

	Women			Men
	Mean (SD)	F (p)	eta^2	Mean (SD)	F (p)	eta^2
Stress-induced eating, 22 y
Yes	22.00 (3.18)	13.70 (<0.001)^a	0.017	23.01 (2.58)	0.01 (0.92)^a	0.000
No	21.18 (2.77)			23.00 (2.95)
Stress-induced eating, 32 y
Yes	24.46 (4.54)	27.84 (<0.001)	0.038	26.17 (4.69)	9.11 (0.003)	0.015
No	22.78 (3.72)			25.04 (3.26)
Stress-induced eating, 42 y
Yes	27.50 (5.51)	90.18 (<0.001)^a	0.121	28.49 (5.65)	12.06 (0.001)^a	0.022
No	23.94 (4.08)			26.44 (4.09)
Stress-induced eating 52 y
Yes	29.25 (5.94)	68.92 (<0.001)	0.104	30.28 (5.97)	19.99 (<0.001)	0.041
No	25.69 (4.50)			27.63 (4.20)
Stress-induced drinking, 22 y
Yes	22.06 (3.07)	4.91 (0.027)	0.006	23.15 (2.43)	0.91 (0.340)	0.001
No	21.46 (3.00)			22.93 (2.74)
Stress-induced drinking, 32 y
Yes	24.38 (4.94)	2.04 (0.154)	0.003	25.48 (3.55)	0.33 (0.565)	0.001
No	23.68 (4.21)			25.26 (3.65)
Stress-induced drinking, 42 y
Yes	26.49 (5.27)	4.48 (0.035)	0.006	27.32 (4.68)	1.70 (0.192)	0.003
No	25.37 (5.00)			26.70 (4.35)
Stress-induced drinking, 52 y
Yes	27.72 (5.43)	0.72 (0.396)	0.001	29.30 (5.06)	6.61 (0.010)	0.014
No	27.19 (5.57)			27.86 (4.72)

^a Interaction between gender and coping variable p < 0.05. Interactions tested using two-way ANOVA.