Emotional Overeating during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Polish Adolescents' COVID-19 Experience (PLACE-19) Study.

Emotional overeating is the most frequently noted type of emotional eating, being commonly associated with increased consumption of energy-dense products, as well as excessive body mass, and weight gain. Even though a number of studies assessed emotional overeating during the COVID-19 pandemic in adult populations, studies of children and adolescents are scarce. The aim of the present study was to assess emotional overeating background, including consumption in response to six emotions (anxiety, sadness, loneliness, tiredness, anger, and happiness), in the population of Polish adolescents within the PLACE-19 Study during the COVID-19 pandemic. The PLACE-19 Study is a national Polish population-based study of adolescents gathered upon recruitment based on a random quota sampling of secondary schools, conducted in a population of 1126 students (818 females and 308 males, a median of age 17.0 and 16.5 years, respectively). Emotional overeating was assessed while using the Emotional Overeating Questionnaire (EOQ), and as additional factors, the following were assessed: gender, body mass, body mass change during the COVID-19 pandemic, and declared tempting food products. Female participants declared a higher frequency of overeating in response to feelings of anxiety, sadness, loneliness, and happiness, and were characterized by a higher total score than male participants, while