Anxiety as a mediator in the relationship of perceived stress and social support with emotional eating in female university teachers

Emotional eating is increasingly recognized as a significant risk factor for both physical and psychological health, especially in academic settings where work-related stress and social demands are high. Despite its importance, the role of anxiety as a potential mediator in these associations has been scarcely examined in the Latin American context, and even less so among female university teachers. This study aimed to examine the relationships among social support, perceived stress, and emotional eating, considering the mediating role of anxiety in female university teachers. A total of 580 female teachers participated in the study and completed standardized instruments to assess anxiety, perceived social support, emotional eating, and perceived stress. Mediation analyses were conducted using a structural equation modeling approach with the Diagonally Weighted Least Squares estimator. Anxiety had a positive and significant direct effect on emotional eating (β = 0.285, p < .001), while social support exhibited a negative and significant direct effect (β = − 0.087, p = .032). Additionally, anxiety acted as a mediator, transmitting the effect of perceived stress (β = 0.056, p < .001) and social support (β = − 0.074, p < .001) on emotional eating. The final model explained 11.5% of the variance in emotional eating and 11.1% of the variance in anxiety. These findings provide novel evidence in a female and Latin American academic context, underscoring the importance of integrating emotional and social variables in the approach to eating behavior.