Effects of various life stressors on food addiction

Chronic stress has been found to be correlated with weight gain, which can lead to obesity (Torres & Nowson 2007). Obesity has tremendous health risks, including heart risks, the potential development of type 2 diabetes, and reduced lung performance (Fradkin et al., 2015). While there has been ample research on adverse childhood experiences and the likelihood to develop an eating disorder, there is a lack of research examining this association with food addiction. The Yale Food Addiction (YFAS) is a new 25-question scale with excellent validity used to examine food addiction based on the DSM-IV-TR (Gearhardt, Corbin, & Brownell, 2009). The participants in this study were 159 women, and the majority of participants were aged 18-39 years (86.20%). Self-reported height and weight was used to calculate BMI (M = 35.33, SD = 10.88). The participants completed the YFAS and an assessment to examine life stressors. Emotional abuse or neglect, witnessing family violence, and sexual abuse were found to be correlated with food addiction