Worry induction increases food consumption in undergraduate students in laboratory study

Perseverative cognition (e.g., worry, rumination) is cross-sectionally associated with disordered eating behaviors and negative affect; yet little research has examined its causal role in emotional eating (EE). The current preregistered experimental study tested the influence of one type of perseverative cognition-worry-on objectively measured food consumption in the laboratory. A total of 129 undergraduate students (67.4 % cisgender women, Age = 19.87) were screened via a semi-structured diagnostic interview and randomly assigned to either a worry induction or control condition. Following the manipulation, participants completed a bogus taste test with chocolate, potato chips, and crackers. They also completed self-report measures of emotion regulation, intolerance of uncertainty, disinhibition, and EE. Manipulation checks confirmed that participants in the worry condition experienced significantly higher post-induction worry relative to controls. Primary analyses revealed that participants in the worry condition consumed significantly more potato chips (p = .039, d = .32) and total food (p = .032, d = .33) compared to the control condition. No moderating effects of intolerance of uncertainty (IU), emotion dysregulation (ER), or disinhibition were observed. Moreover, neither a broad-based self-report measure of EE (p = .555) nor a specific measure of worry-related EE (p = .855) predicted the amount of food consumed or moderated the effect of condition. Findings provide novel experimental evidence that worry, as a specific form of perseverative cognition, can contribute to EE behavior. Targeting worry as a transdiagnostic mechanism may enhance the effectiveness of interventions for EE.