Examination of the relationship between emotional eating, and metacognitions, anxiety and obsessive beliefs during the COVID-19 outbreak

The main purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between emotional eating behaviors and metacognitions, obsessive beliefs, depression, and anxiety levels of individuals who are thought to be affected by the changing lifestyle during the Covid-19 epidemic. The sample of the study consists of a total of 631 people, 513 women and 118 men, between the ages of 18-65 living in different cities of Turkey. The sociodemographic data form, Emotional Appetite Questionnaire, Obsession with Covid-19 Scale, Coronavirus Anxiety Scale, Cognitive Attentional Syndrome-1, Beck Depression Inventory, Beck Anxiety Inventory included in the study were answered online and analyzed with SPSS 26 package program. In this study, correlation analysis and chi-square test were used to examine the relationships between the variables. Mann Whitney U and Kruskal-Wallis H Tests were used to test the statistical difference of the group means, and Tukey HSD Test was applied to determine the source of the difference. Multiple linear regression analysis was used to determine the contribution of the variables to the explanation of emotional appetite. As a result of the study, a positive and significant relationship was found between the level of anxiety towards the Covid-19 virus and the eating behaviors of people in emotional situations. In addition, there was a positive and significant relationship between eating behaviors in positive and negative emotions and situations and BDKS, while a positive significant relationship was found between metacognitive beliefs and eating behavior only in positive emotions and situations. On the other hand, no significant relationship was found between eating behaviors in positive and negative emotions and situations, depression and anxiety levels of individuals, and obsessive beliefs about Covid-19.