Emotional Appetite is Associated with Chronotype and Burnout in Senior Undergraduate Students

Abstract Background: Chronotype changes and academic burnout are two negative conditions that manifest later in university life. Objective: This study aimed to examine the association of chronotype and burnout with emotional appetite among senior undergraduate students. Methods: The Emotional Appetite Questionnaire (EMAQ), Morningness–Eveningness Questionnaire (MEQ), and Maslach Burnout Inventory-Student Survey (MBI-SS) were used to measure emotional eating, chronotype, and burnout status, respectively. Additionally, measurements of height, body weight, waist circumference, and dietary intake (three-day food consumption) were recorded. Results: Significant differences were found between morning and evening type participants concerning EMAQ sub-scores, except for positive emotions (p<0.05). Additionally, the MEQ score was negatively correlated with the EMAQ negative situation and negative total scores (p<0.05). Multiple linear regression analysis showed that the evening type increased the EMAQ negative total score and decreased the EMAQ positive total score compared to the morning type when controlling for body mass index (BMI), waist circumference, dietary energy, dietary protein, MBI-SS sub-scores, and intermediate chronotype (p<0.05). On the other hand, emotional exhaustion (EE), one of the MBI-SS sub-scores, was positively correlated with EMAQ negative scores and negatively correlated with EMAQ positive scores (p<0.05). The depersonalization (DP) sub-score was positively correlated with the EMAQ negative scores, and the personal accomplishment (PA) sub-score was positively correlated with the EMAQ positive scores (p<0.05). Lastly, multiple linear regression analysis showed that EE and DP predicted greater EMAQ negative total scores and lower EMAQ positive total scores when controlling for other parameters in the models. Conclusions: These findings show that both academic burnout and late chronotype are associated with negative emotional eating. This points to the need for policymakers to develop strategies to raise awareness about healthy lifestyles among undergraduate students. [Ethiop. J. Health Dev.2024; 38(2): 00-00] Keywords: Eating Behavior, Emotional Eating, Eveningness Chronotype, Emotional Exhaustion, University Students.