The correlation between body cathexis and emotional eating behaviors of adolescents

Body cathexis is the degree of satisfaction or dissatisfaction with body or body parts and may be important during adolescence. This may affect the healthy eating behaviors of adolescents. The aim of current study is to determine the correlation between adolescents' body cathexis and emotional eating behaviors and the affecting factors. This study was conducted based on descriptive design 944 students in two high schools in T & uuml;rkiye. In the collection of the data, "Socio-Demographic Information Form", "Body-Cathexis Scale(BCS)", "Emotional Eating Scale for Children and Adolescents (EES-C)" were used. Body Mass Index were evaluated in accordance with World Health Organization (WHO) z-score classification. In the study, a statistically significant correlation was found between the BCS and the EES-C scores of the adolescents. (r = -.086, p = .008). When the BCS and the EES-C were examined to see how they correlated, it was found that they were correlated in a moderate negative way. In conclusion, adolescents' dissatisfaction with their body cathexis increased, their emotional eating behaviors also increased. Adolescent can be given training on healthy nutrition education in schools. This training can be done by determining the nutrition education content and its distribution throughout the curriculum, the number of hours devoted to nutrition, and using different teaching methods such as lecture, question-answer, and discussion. It is suggested to give counseling to adolescents in order to support them both to have psychological well-being and acquire healthy lifestyle behaviors. Results of the study may help to better investigate the problem of body cathexis and emotional eating behaviors in adolescents.