Emotional Eating Tendencies of University Students and Their Differences by Gender: A Comparative Analysis of Faculty of Sports Sciences and Faculty of Health Sciences

Emotional eating can be defined as consuming food in response to emotional states such as stress, anger, sadness, and so forth, without regard for the physiological signals indicating satiety. This can have a detrimental impact on an individual’s ability to maintain healthy eating habits, potentially leading to uncontrolled weight gain, obesity, and other associated health issues. In this context, it is crucial to ascertain the prevalence of emotional eating among university students and to implement strategies to address emotional eating to maintain healthy eating behaviors. It is particularly anticipated that students enrolled in the Faculty of Sports Sciences and Health Sciences will demonstrate theoretical and practical proficiency in healthy living. Nevertheless, the profile of their emotional eating behaviors remains insufficiently elucidated. Emotional eating behaviors may persist in these students despite the nutrition education they receive, with the potential for such behaviors to negatively affect their academic success, quality of life, and physical performance. The objective of this study was to examine the prevalence of emotional eating among students enrolled in the Faculty of Sports Sciences and the Faculty of Health Sciences. A total of 406 students, comprising 183 enrolled in the Faculty of Sports Sciences and 223 enrolled in the Faculty of Health Sciences, were included in the study at Yalova University. The mean age of the participants was 20.48 ± 1.86. In the context of the study, participants completed the Emotional Eating Scale. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, skewness and kurtosis values, and an independent sample t-test. The findings revealed that the emotional eating levels of students enrolled in the Faculty of Sports Sciences and the Faculty of Health Sciences were comparable. This could be attributed to the inclusion of a nutrition course in the curriculum of both faculties. Additionally, female students exhibited a higher emotional eating level than their male counterparts. The underlying reasons for this discrepancy by gender require further investigation, and specific attention should be given to female students.

Cite this article as: Arslan Kabasakal, S., & Tarık Ergüven, A. (2025). Emotional eating tendencies of university students and their differences by gender: A comparative analysis of faculty of sports sciences and faculty of health sciences. Research in Sports Science, 15, 0044, doi: 10.5152/rss.2025.24044.