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Nutrition and Health (including climate and ecological aspects)

Stressed females, rather than males, tend to eat away from home

European Journal of Clinical Nutrition volume 76, pages 1010–1016 (2022)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Objectives

The aim of this study is to examine the association between perceived stress and multifarious eating away from home among Chinese adults in different genders.

Methods

We examined cross-sectional data from the China Health and Nutrition Survey conducted in 2018 among Chinese adults aged 18–59 years. A self-reported questionnaire involving the perceived stress scale with 10 items (PSS-10), and the food frequency questionnaire about eating away from home were used. Adjusted two-level zero-inflated Poisson regression models were used to explore the association.

Results

There were 3161 males and 3599 females in the study. The median PSS-10 score was 16.0 and the frequencies of eating 1) breakfast, 2) lunch or supper, and 3) three main meals away from home were 12, 10, and 49 times per year, respectively. In males, PSS-10 score was not associated with eating away from home. In females, PSS-10 score was significantly positively associated with eating 1) lunch or supper, 2) three main meals, 3) Chinese food away from home, and 4) eating at stalls/restaurants (β1 = 0.016, P1 = 0.006; β2 = 0.014, P2 = 0.002; β3 = 0.015, P3 = 0.013; β4 = 0.014, P4 = 0.015 respectively). But there was not association between PSS-10 score and the frequency of eating breakfast away from home in females (β = 0.006, P = 0.325).

Conclusions

Stressed females tend to eat away from home, but the effects are very small.

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Data availability

The CHNS datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available at http://www.cpc.unc.edu/projects/china/data.

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Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank all those who have worked on this research and all of the participants. This research was funded by the Carolina Population Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, grant number 5R24 HD050924; the National Institutes of Health, grant number R01-HD30880, DK056350, R24 HD050924, and R01-HD38700; and the Fogarty International Center, National Institutes of Health, grant numbers 5D43TW007709 and 5D43TW009077.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Institute for Nutrition and Health, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing, China

    Feifei Huang, Huijun Wang, Zhihong Wang, Wenwen Du, Yifei Ouyang & Bing Zhang

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  1. Feifei Huang
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  2. Huijun Wang
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  3. Zhihong Wang
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  4. Wenwen Du
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  6. Bing Zhang
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Contributions

FH, HW, and BZ were responsible for the study concept and design. FH wrote the manuscript. HW and BZ revised the manuscript. FH, WD, YOY were responsible for the investigation. BZ required the fund. All of the authors approved the draft of the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Bing Zhang.

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Huang, F., Wang, H., Wang, Z. et al. Stressed females, rather than males, tend to eat away from home. Eur J Clin Nutr 76, 1010–1016 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41430-021-01058-2

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