Coping strategies and binge eating

Researchers from the University of Oviedo in Spain have been looking into the prevalence and causes of binge eating and in particular how people's coping styles affect how likely they are to binge eat. They studied 1,913 children between 12 and 18 who filled out a questionnaire about their eating habits and how they coped with the problems in their life. The study found that 6.94% of the children reported bingeing in the last six months. The adolescents who binged were more likely to blame themselves for their problems and were more introverted while those who used more positive-effortful coping were less likely to binge. The authors of the study concluded that helping teenagers deal with problems more constructively could be a good way of cutting down the rates of bingeing.

Sierra-Baigrie, Susana ... [et al] - Exploring the relationship between coping strategies and binge eating in nonclinical adolescents European Eating Disorders Review DOI: 10.1002/erv.1103