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The impact of perceived stress on Millennials’

perceived
US millennials’ external and stress, eating
behavior
emotional eating behavior
Bendegul Okumus 1
Department of Food Service and Lodging, Rosen College of Hospitality Management,
University of Central Florida, Orlando, Florida, USA, and Received 5 July 2019
Revised 27 March 2020
Ahmet Bulent Ozturk Accepted 5 May 2020

Department of Hospitality Services, Rosen College of Hospitality Management,

University of Central Florida, Orlando, Florida, USA

Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to identify the relationship between Millennials’ perceived stress and
their external and emotional eating behaviors. Furthermore, the moderating effect of nutritional knowledge on
the relationship between perceived stress and emotional eating and perceived stress and external eating of US
Millennials was tested.
Design/methodology/approach – Data was collected from 649 Millennials between the ages of 18 and 35 in
the United States, and structural equation modeling (SEM) was performed to test the study hypotheses.
Findings – This study extends the literature and provides further insights into the relationship between US
Millennials’ eating behavior and stress factors. Perceived stress positively influenced Millennials’ emotional
and external eating behavior, and nutritional knowledge significantly moderated the relationships between
perceived stress and emotional eating and perceived stress and external eating.
Research limitations/implications – First, data was collected from Millennials living in the United States.
Second, not all of the predictors, save one (perceived stress), were selected and hypothesized as predictors of
Millennials’ eating behavior. The paper provides the essential psychological elements of US Millennials’ eating
behavior.
Originality/value – If unbalanced eating and obesity are the result of negative psychological factors, the
recommended diet models or physical exercise by themselves may be less effective at combating obesity and
related health issues. This is because stress was found to be a highly significant reason for unbalanced eating,
new and more practical stress coping strategies are needed to moderate unbalanced eating behavior.
Keywords External eating, Emotional eating, Perceived stress, Nutritional knowledge, Millennials
Paper type Research paper

1. Background
Stress refers to the ways in which body and brain respond to the environmental demands of
work, school, traumatic events and life changes (Cohen et al., 2007; National Institute of Mental
Health, 2019). Although stress can be a motivating factor for some individuals, it has been
shown to alter mental and physical health, as well as eating patterns and behavior (Greeno and
Wing, 1994; Kandiah et al., 2008; National Institute of Mental Health, 2019; Stone and Brownell,
1994; Wardle, 2007; Yau and Potenza, 2013). The relationship between stress and human
eating behavior has been studied extensively. However, prior studies on this topic produced
mixed results, since individuals’ coping strategies with stress are different (Van Blyderveen
et al., 2016). It is still unclear how stress influences human eating behaviors. According to

The authors wish to thank their participants for engaging with the research, the funding agency
(University of Central Florida, USA) for its financial support and anonymous referees for their
constructive criticism. British Food Journal
Vol. 123 No. 1, 2021
Funding: The present research was made possible by support from the University of Central Florida pp. 1-11
(Grant number: 12019013) in 2017–2018. © Emerald Publishing Limited
0007-070X
Disclosure statement: No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors. DOI 10.1108/BFJ-07-2019-0490
BFJ Torres and Nowson (2007), drawing conclusions about stress with regard to food intake in
123,1 animal and human studies is difficult. Such studies have provided opposing responses, with
some cases showing an increase in consumption and others showing a decrease.
Some self-reported and experimental studies revealed that high levels of stress led to
increased food consumption (American Physiological Association, 2017; Sims et al., 2008;
Torres and Nowson, 2007) and reliance on high-energy snacks, regardless of eating habits or
gender (Oliver and Wardle, 1999; Sims et al., 2008). These studies also introduced two types of
2 eating behaviors: emotional eating, referring to the process of overeating as a means of coping
with stress, depression or discouragement(Adam and Epel, 2007; Bruch, 1973); and external
eating, meaning any consumption of food prompted by food-related stimuli, no matter how
hungry or satiated one is (Schachter, 1971). Although both emotional eating and external
eating result from life stress and unbalanced habits, including overeating (Hou et al., 2013;
Nevanpera et al., 2012), few existing studies correlate stress with eating behavior and overall
health. For example, Nevanpera et al. (2012) investigated how work-related stress influenced
women’s adverse eating behaviors and found that those under stress were prone to emotional
and uncontrolled eating, while those reporting no stress were not. Another study conducted
by Stambor (2006) showed that almost 50% of a representative US sample engaged in
unhealthy acts, including smoking and eating, as stress coping strategies. In the context of
these studies, the conjectures of psychosomatic theory (Nguyen-Rodriguez et al., 2008)
indicate that food serves as an emotional defense when stress increases.
Further studies positively correlated nutritional knowledge and individual eating
behaviors. Lack of nutritional information is one of the leading causes of low-quality food
consumption (Lin et al., 2011). Knowledge is a key factor of food habits (Crites and Aikman,
2005) and is influenced by individual attitudes toward eating (Ozcelik et al., 2007). People
usually eat without thinking about either the positive or negative bodily effects of what they
are consuming, despite the fact that many common eating behaviors can be incorrect and
sometimes have negative effects on health (Wilson et al., 2009). Knowledge of nutrition and
healthy eating may therefore increase good eating practices and positively impact
individuals’ overall health (Mond and Hay, 2008) while decreasing negative effects such as
malnutrition and related problems (Aldana et al., 2006).
Millennials (i.e. those born between 1982 and 2000) are a relatively nascent topic of
scholarly interest. Millennials represent about 25–27% of the population (Fry, 2016),
constitute the largest generational cohort (about 83.1m) and are more diverse and better
educated than previous generations in the United States (Pew Research Center, 2019; US
Census, 2015). They are more aware of the benefits of good food, healthy eating and wellness
facilities than other generational cohorts. They also purchase different health and wellness
services (WebMD, 2016). Even though millennial behaviors and characteristics have been the
subject of extensive investigation across fields, to date academic research about Millennials’
perceived stress, nutritional knowledge and eating behavior is limited. Although the impact
of perceived stress on individuals’ eating behaviors has been studied among different age
groups and genders, to the authors’ best knowledge, no study has specifically examined the
relationship between Millennials’ perceived stress and their external eating and emotional
eating behaviors. Therefore, the present study aims to fill this research gap through its
investigation of this more health-oriented cohort’s perceived stresses and their connection to
emotional/external eating behaviors. Furthermore, the moderating role of nutritional
knowledge on the relationships between stress and emotional/external eating was
investigated. Based on prior literature (Boulanger et al., 2002; Epel et al., 2001; Groesz et al.,
2012; Nguyen-Rodriguez et al., 2008; Parker and DeCotiis, 1983; Parmenter and Wardle, 1999;
Sominsky and Spencer, 2014; Torres and Nowson, 2007; Van Strien et al., 1986; Van Strien and
Bazelier, 2007; Van Strien et al., 1986; Wardle, 2007), the following hypotheses were proposed
(Figure 1).
 Millennials’
perceived
stress, eating
behavior

Figure 1.
Research model

H1. Perceived stress is positively associated with Millennials’ emotional eating.

H2. Perceived stress is positively associated with Millennials’ external eating.
H3. Nutritional knowledge moderates the relationship between perceived stress and
emotional eating (H3a) and perceived stress and external eating (H3b).

2. Methodology
2.1 Measurement
An online web-based survey was developed for data collection. The constructs of the study
were adapted from previous research studies. About 13 items were used to measure
emotional eating, while nine items were used to measure external eating. Both constructs
were adapted from the seminal study by Van Strien et al. (1986). A five-point Likert-type scale
ranging from 1 5 strongly disagree to 5 5 strongly agree was used to measure emotional/
external eating. About 14 items, as adapted from Cohen et al. (1983; 1987), were used to
measure perceived stress. This construct was measured with a five-point Likert-type scale
ranging from 1 5 never to 5 5 very often. Nutritional knowledge was measured by 35 items
adapted from Parmenter and Wardle (1999), Boulanger et al. (2002) and Hankey et al. (2004).
Respondents were asked a series of questions about their nutritional knowledge (e.g. Does
pork contain saturated fat? Is rice a source of calcium?). Answer choices for the nutritional
knowledge questions were “Yes,” “No” and “I do not know.” The nutritional knowledge scale
was converted to a categorical variable by grouping participants into three categories based
on the number of correct answers they provided (i.e. 0–10 correct answers 5 little nutritional
knowledge; 11–20 correct answers 5 moderate nutritional knowledge; 21–35 correct
answers 5 high nutritional knowledge).
2.1.1 Sample, data collection and data analysis. This study’s target population was US
Millennials between the ages of 18 and 35. A screening question was used to make sure that
only true Millennials, as defined by the aforementioned age parameters, participated in the
survey. A marketing company (i.e. Qualtrics) was hired for the data collection. The survey
link was provided to the marketing company, who then distributed the survey to its
randomly selected panel members. A total of 649 responses were collected. After cleaning the
data, 631 viable responses were used for data analysis.
The demographic characteristics of the participants are presented in Table 1. The
numbers of male (49.9%) and female (49.1%) participants were nearly equal. Approximately
67% of the participants were between the ages of 25 and 35, 34% had a high school degree
and nearly 29% had a yearly income of under $25,000. About 47% of the participants were
single. The two-step approach (Anderson and Gerbing, 1988) was utilized for data analysis.
BFJ Demographic characteristics N %
123,1
Gender
Male 310 49.9
Female 315 49.1
Other 5 0.8
Prefer not to say 1 0.2
Total 631 100
4
Age
18–24 209 33.1
25–35 422 66.9
Total 631 100
Education
Below high school 51 8.1
High school 217 34.4
Some college 143 22.7
Associate’s degree 71 11.3
Bachelor’s degree 79 12.5
Master’s degree 40 6.3
Doctorate degree 6 1.0
Professional degree (e.g. JD, MD) 16 2.5
Prefer not to say 8 1.2
Total 631 100
Income
Under $25.000 180 28.5
$25.000–49.999 166 26.3
$50.000–74.999 111 17.6
$75.000–99.999 61 9.7
$100.000–149.999 51 8.1
$150.000 and over 22 3.5
Prefer not to say 40 6.3
Total 631 100
Marital status
Single 297 47.1
Married with children 149 23.6
Married without children 47 7.4
Divorced 13 2.1
Living with partner 67 10.6
Separated 1 0.2
In a relationship (not living together) 28 4.4
Table 1. Single parent with a child (or children) 23 3.6
Demographic Widowed 2 0.3
characteristics of Prefer not to say 4 0.6
participants Total 631 100

First, the multi-item scales and overall measurement model were tested via confirmatory
factor analysis (CFA). Next, the hypotheses were tested using structural equation modeling
(SEM) analysis. SPSS 22.0 and AMOS 22.0 statistical and SEM software packages were
utilized for data analyses purposes (see Table 2).

3. Results
3.1 Measurement model
To assess the validity of this study’s scales and measurement model, a CFA was performed.
Study results indicated that the Chi-square statistic was significant. The ratio of the
Chi-square value to freedom was 6.638 ( χ 2 5 3923.173, df 5 591) (Hair, 2006). In addition,
 Construct
Millennials’
Constructs Loadings reliability AVEs perceived
Stress 0.86 0.64
stress, eating
1. In the last month, how often have you been upset because of something 0.75 behavior
that happened unexpectedly?
2. In the last month, how often have you felt that you were unable to control 0.73
the important things in your life?
3. In the last month, how often have you felt nervous and stressed? 0.73
5
4. In the last month, how often have you dealt successfully with irritating 0.73
life hassles?
5. In the last month, how often have you felt that you were effectively coping 0.75
with important changes that were occurring in your life?
6. In the last month, how often have you felt confident about your ability to 0.72
handle your personal problems
7. In the last month, how often have you felt that things were going your 0.71
way?
8. In the last month, how often have you found that you could not cope with 0.70
all the things that you had to do?
9. In the last month, how often have you been able to control irritations in 0.71
your life?
10. In the last month, how often have you felt that you were on the top of 0.61
things?*
11. In the last month, how often have you been angered because of things 0.74
that happened that were outside of your control?
12. In the last month, how often have you found yourself thinking about 0.73
things that you have to accomplish?
13. In the last month, how often have you been able to control the way you 0.74
spend your time?
14. In the last month, how often have you felt difficulties were piling up so 0.71
high that you could not overcome them?
Emotional eating 0.84 0.53
1. I have a desire to eat when I am irritated 0.77
2. I have a desire to eat when I have nothing to do 0.71
3. I have a desire to eat when I am depressed 0.77
4. I have a desire to eat when I am feeling lonely 0.71
5. I have a desire to eat when somebody lets me down 0.77
6. I have a desire to eat when I am cross 0.83
7. I have a desire to eat when something unpleasant happens 0.83
8. I have a desire to eat when I am anxious 0.82
9. I have a desire to eat when things are go wrong 0.83
10. I have a desire to eat when I am frightened 0.86
11. I have a desire to eat when I am disappointed 0.76
12. I have a desire to eat when I am emotionally upset 0.82
13. I have a desire to eat when I am bored 0.85
External eating 0.81 0.53
1. If food tastes good to me, I eat more than usual* 0.61
2. If food smells and looks good, I eat more than usual 0.73
3. If I see or smell something delicious, I have a desire to eat it 0.73
4. If I walk past the bakery, I have the desire to buy something delicious 0.78
5. If I walk past a snack bar or a cafe, I have the desire to buy something 0.79
delicious
6. If I see others eating, I also have the desire to eat 0.74
7. I cannot resist eating delicious food 0.74
8. I eat more than usual, when I see others eating 0.70 Table 2.
9. When preparing a meal, I am inclined to eat something* 0.62 Results of
Note(s): *Dropped due to low factor loading measurement model
BFJ other goodness-of-fit statistics, including NFI (0.91), CFI (0.90), GFI (0.90) and RMSEA (0.05),
123,1 demonstrated a good theoretical model fit (Hair, 2006). To evaluate the reliability of the scales,
composite reliability values and Cronbach’s alpha were utilized. Cronbach’s alpha estimates
ranged from 0.61 to 0.84, and study constructs’ composite reliability estimates were all
greater than 0.7, thus illustrating a high reliability (Nunnally, 1970).The average variance
extracted (AVE) values were evaluated in relation to convergent validity. The AVE values
differed from 0.53 to 0.64, greater than the recommended 0.50 cutoff value (Fornell and
6 Larcker, 1981). As for discriminant validity, the square root of the AVE value of each
construct with its interconstruct correlation was compared (Fornell and Larcker, 1981).
According to the study results, all square roots of AVE values exceeded the interconstruct
correlations, thus yielding an acceptable discriminate validity. Table 3 presents the results
for discriminant validity.

3.2 Structural equation model

SEM analysis was conducted to test the study hypotheses. The same goodness-of-fit
measures were used to examine overall structural model fit. The results indicated a good
theoretical model fit with RMSEA of 0.04, NFI of 0.91, CFI of 0.90 and GFI of 0.90. Study
results illustrated that H1 (perceived stress is positively associated with Millennials’
emotional eating) and H2 (perceived stress is positively associated with Millennials’ external
eating) were supported. More specifically, the findings of the study demonstrated that
perceived stress positively influenced Millennials’ emotional (H1 path coefficient 5 0.43) and
external eating behavior (H2 path coefficient 5 0.51). Regarding the moderating impact of
nutritional knowledge (H3), the study results indicated that nutritional knowledge
significantly moderated the relationships between perceived stress and emotional/external
eating, thus supporting H3a and H3b. More specifically, the study results showed that
perceived stress more greatly impacted both emotional and external eating for Millennials
with low nutritional knowledge than for those with high nutritional knowledge (Table 4). Yet,
high nutritional knowledge significantly mediated activity of self-reported perceived stress
and emotional/external eating patterns.

Constructs 1 2 3

1. Emotional eating 0.805

Table 3. 3. Perceived stress 0.414 0.729
Discriminant validity 4. External eating 0.722 0.495 0.730
matrix Note(s): Off-diagonal elements: Interconstruct correlations. Diagonal elements (italic): Square root of AVEs

Stress → EmoEat Stress → ExEat

Little knowledge 0.299 0.544

Moderate knowledge 0.059 0.239
z-Score 0.880 0.794
Little knowledge 0.329 0.339
High knowledge 0.064 0.047
z-Score 3.018*** 1.988**
Moderate knowledge 0.300 0.186
Table 4. High knowledge 0.205 0.298
The moderation effect z-Score 1.245 0.695
of nutrition knowledge Note(s): ***p-value < 0.01; **p-value < 0.05; *p-value < 0.10
4. Discussion and conclusions Millennials’
This study aimed to identify the relationship between Millennials’ perceived stress and their perceived
external and emotional eating habits. This study also tested the moderating effect of
nutritional knowledge on the relationship between perceived stress and emotional eating and
stress, eating
perceived stress and external eating of US Millennials. Data was collected from 631 behavior
Millennials. As one of the first of its kind, this study offers specific theoretical implications in
relation to the influence of perceived stress on emotional and external eating behaviors of
Millennials and the moderating role of nutritional knowledge on perceived stress as related to 7
emotional/external eating.
According to the study results, all hypotheses were supported. Perceived stress positively
influenced Millennials’ emotional eating (H1) and desire to eat more when stressed. Prior
research correlated stress and overeating (American Physiological Association, 2017;
Nevanpera et al., 2012; Nguyen-Rodriguez et al., 2008; Sims et al., 2008; Torres and Nowson,
2007) and suggested that food can be a form of emotional security (Adam and Epel, 2007;
Bruch, 1973; Schachter, 1971). Sweet fatty food intake increased among female emotional
eaters in particular (Oliver et al., 2000).
The study results also show that perceived stress positively affected Millennials’ external
eating behavior (H2). Millennials tend to eat more, even without feeling hungry, when under
stress, since external triggers (e.g. odor, texture, sight or images of food) increase this
intention. Participants reported not being able to resist eating delicious food when passing by
a caf
e while under stress. Thus, perceived stress was associated with external eating in the
presence of food cues. The findings are not only consistent with prior studies across different
age and gender groups but also offer new insights (Nevanpera et al., 2012; Torres and
Nowson, 2007; Okumus et al., 2019). Those same studies suggested a direct association
between stress and unbalanced eating behaviors and that those who are stressed are
relatively prone to emotional/external eating.
This study also supports the difficulties of changing eating behavior in connection with
daily stressors and mood, which discourage appropriate eating. Although prior studies
indicated that US Millennials are physically more active than previous generations (Physical
Activity Council Participation Report, 2019) and prefer healthier menu options (Roseman
et al., 2017; Watrous, 2016), our findings are in line with basic psychosomatic theory, which
defines food as a form of emotional security (Nguyen-Rodriguez et al., 2008). According to
Newman et al. (2008), external eaters up their snack intake in times of stress, when they are
more susceptible to food stimuli. Individuals’ control mechanisms tend to falter under the
effects of stress: an important point to consider, if only because stress factors can lead to
external eating, and by extension to abnormal eating behavior (Braet et al., 2008; Hou et al.,
2013), thus paving the way to obesity. Although previous studies support a correlation
between stress and external eating, Ouwens et al. (2009) found no relationship between
negative emotions (e.g. depression) and external eating in their study. These variations also
support disparity of individual trait sensitivity regarding reward systems of external food
cues (Brignell et al., 2009).
In terms of the moderation effect of nutritional knowledge, the present study indicates that
the relationship between stress and emotional/external eating is moderated by nutritional
knowledge (H3). The study results suggest that perceived stress has a stronger impact on
both external and emotional eating for Millennials with low nutritional knowledge than for
those with high nutritional knowledge. These study results are consistent with Pirouznia
(2001), who found a positive correlation between nutritional knowledge and food choices
among teenagers. Studies of nutritional knowledge and awareness showed that individuals’
knowledge effectively improves nutritional status and reduces malnutrition and other
nutritional problems (Aldana et al., 2006; Wilson et al., 2009). Low levels of education have
been shown to have negative impacts on various aspects of life. They can result in low (if not a
BFJ lack of) devotion. Similarly, these neglectful behaviors may generate inappropriate and
123,1 unhealthy diet patterns as precursors to nutrition-related health complications. People with
high levels of education have the ability to read, analyze and use scientific resources. It is
further apparent that in-depth understanding also impacts nutritional awareness (Azemati
et al., 2013; Ford and Junes, 1991; Guldan et al., 1991).
The present study results further provide important practical implications for healthcare
authorities, food and beverage businesses and individuals. If unbalanced eating behaviors
8 are the result of negative psychological factors, the recommended diet models and physical
exercises by themselves may be less effective at combating obesity and related health issues.
Recent study findings suggest that Millennials area stress-laden generation, as
approximately 19% of Millennials suffer from depression, anxiety, hypertension, diabetes
and related conditions. Millennials are more aware of the benefits of good food, healthy eating
and wellness facilities than other generational cohorts but are disconnected from the health
market when it comes to managing stress. This generational cohort favors quick solutions
such as in-and-out medical clinics or apps for health knowledge (WebMD, 2016) and therefore
lack the empowering ability of companionship to reduce stress (Health Status, 2019). For
many of them, eating is a habitual comfort zone where exit strategies are few and far between.
Consequently, learning healthy coping strategies to minimize uncontrolled eating behavior is
crucial. Quick, short and timely information dissemination by reliable organizations
(e.g. USDA, FDA, WHO, FAO), healthcare companies and research institutions through social
media and apps can improve individuals’ stress coping strategies, nutritional awareness and
healthy eating behavior. Finally, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and interpersonal
psychotherapy (IPT) have bene proven effective in the treatment of eating disorders (Iacovino
et al., 2012; Wilson et al., 2010). Similar therapy sessions can also be utilized to reduce stress
eating among Millennials and other generational cohorts.

4.1 Limitations and future research

The current study is beset by certain limitations. For instance, only perceived stress was
hypothesized as a predictor of Millennials’ eating behavior. However, other important factors
may determine these eating behaviors. Therefore, future research examining different factors
(e.g. job demands, job stress, job satisfaction, life satisfaction, depression) as antecedents of
Millennials’ eating behaviors would surely provide valuable findings. Furthermore, data was
collected from Millennials who reside in the Unites States only. Future research studies can
collect data from different countries and examine the impacts of Millennials’ cultural
backgrounds and gender differences on their emotional and external eating.

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Corresponding author
Bendegul Okumus can be contacted at: bendegul.okumus@ucf.edu

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