Table 3.

Studies describing associations between stress and eating among multiple racial/ethnic groups, organized by domain of stress assessed.

Author & Year	Participant Characteristics (% female)	Participant Race/Ethnicity	Stress Measure	Eating Measure	At-risk groups	Protected groups	Findings: Differential Effect of Stress on Eating
Perceived Stress
Chang et al., 2016 [65]a	332 Adult pregnant women enrolled in WIC (100%)	58% NHW, 42% AA	Perceived stress (PSS)	Fast food, fruit, vegetable, and fat intake (self-report)	None	AA, NHW	No difference. Stress ≠ fast food, fruit, vegetable, or fat intake in either group
Goel et al., 2019 [66]a	1,713 Young adult college students (100%)	43% NHW, 20% AA, 18% AS, 12% Multi, 7% HL	Perceived parental criticism (FROST-MPS)	Loss of control eating (self-report)	NHW, AA	HL, AS, Multi	Differences. Parental criticism → loss of control eating for NHW and AA, but not for HL, AS, or Multiracial
Combined: Occurrence and perceived stressfulness of events
Harrington et al., 2006 [67]a	178 Young adult college students (100%)	52% AA, 48% NHW	Combined occurrence of daily hassles in past month (SRLE) and overall perceptions of stress (PSS); Combined occurrence and stressfulness of traumatic events (LSC-R)	Binge eating (self-report)	NHW, AA	AA	Differences. Stress → binge eating both groups separately; magnitude of stress → eating effect is greater for NHW; in full sample, ethnicity moderates the effect of stress such that stress → eating holds for NHW only Trauma → binge eating for NHW (not for AA) when tested separately; in full sample, no main effect of trauma or trauma by ethnicity interaction
Discrimination-related stress
Harrington et al., 2006 [67]a	178 Young adult college students (100%)	52% AA, 48% NHW	Perceived stressfulness of racist and sexist events (SRE; SSE)	Binge eating (self-report)	AA	NHW	Differences. Discrimination → binge eating for AA (not for NHW) when tested separately; in full sample, no main effect of stress or stress by ethnicity interaction
Kelly et al., 2017 [68]a	798 Young adults (0%)	34% HL, 33% AA, 33% AS	Discrimination stress (EDS, AARSI, DSS)1; discrimination related to 2016 election2	Loss of control eating (self-report)	AA, HL, AS	AS with high ethnic identity	Minimal differences. Discrimination stress → loss of control eating for AA, HL, and AS low in ethnic identity; election-related discrimination → loss of control eating for all groups
Kroon Van Diest et al., 2014 [69]a	247 Young adult college students (100%)	37% HL, 34% AA, 29% AS	Perceived acculturative stress (SAFE-SF)	Combined: binge eating and EE (self-report)	AA, HL, AS	None	No difference. Acculturative stress → combined binge and EE for all groups

Note: AA = African-American; AS = Asian; HL = Hispanic/Latinx; NHW = Non-Hispanic White; Multi = Multi-racial/Multi-ethnic; EE = Emotional Eating; → = is associated with; ≠ = not significantly associated with; NS = non-significant.

At-risk groups indicate the racial/ethnic group(s) that exhibited associations between stress and unhealthy eating within a particular study. Protected groups indicate the racial/ethnic group(s) that did not exhibit associations between stress and unhealthy eating within a particular study.

^a.Cross-sectional self-report methodology.

Stress Measures: PSS = Perceived Stress Scale; SRLE = Survey of Recent Life Experiences; LSC-R = Life Stressors Checklist-Revised; SRE = Schedule of Racist Events; SSE = Schedule of Sexist Events; EDS = Everyday Discrimination Scale; AARSI = Asian American Racism-Related Stress Inventory; DSS = Discrimination Stress Scale; SAFE-SF = Societal, Attitudinal, Familial, and Environmental Acculturative Stress Scale, short form; FROST-MPS = Frost Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale.

^1.Measure of discrimination stress varied by racial ethnic group. AA completed EDS, a measure of frequency of unfair treatment; AS completed AARSI, a combined measure of the occurrence and perceived stressfulness of race-related discrimination; HL completed DSS, a combined measure of the occurrence and perceived stressfulness of race-related stressors.

^2.Unnamed, single item measure of race-related stress since the 2016 election, “My experiences with race-related stress and discrimination (e.g., being threatened or harassed, being disrespected) have become worse since Mr. Trump was selected as our next president.”