Evaluation of the effect of fear due to COVID-19 on emotional appeal and eating behaviors in wome

Emotional eating is a behavior that occurs only in response to mood, without feeling hungry or at meal time. Many factors such as the news constantly heard and watched during the COVID-19 process, the anxiety of catching an epidemic and social isolation cause individuals to increase their stress levels by being psychologically affected. For this reason, it prepares the ground for the formation of emotional eating behavior by revealing the feelings of fear and anxiety. 140 female individuals between the ages of 18-65, who are taking service in a private beauty center and based on their volunteerism, were included in the study. As data collection tools; Personal Information Form, COVID-19 Fear Scale, Emotional Appetite Questionnaire (SIA), Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire (DEBQ), Food Frequency Form and 24-Hour Food Consumption Record were used. According to their Body Mass Index (BMI), the participants consisted of 4.3% underweight, 72.2% normal and 23.5% obese individuals. They were found to have an average level of fear (16,6) according to the COVID-19 Fear scale. It has been observed that there is an increase in appetite at the rate of 63% and weight gain at the rate of 45% in individuals. Among the participants, the restrictive eating levels of the individuals aged 36-45 were significantly higher than the women aged 18-25, and the restrictive eating levels of the married ones were significantly higher than those of the single (p<0.05). It was observed that there was a significant increase in emotional appetite and eating behaviors of individuals who did not exercise regularly (p<0.05). While 55.7% of the participants used nutritional supplements, it was seen that the most preferred supplements were vitamin C, D and multivitamin. However, relationship between Covid-19 fear levels and emotional appetite among the participants was found to be insignificant. More work is needed on this subject.