Forgiveness and my waistline : emotional eating mediates the relationship between forgiveness and adult weight gain

Kurzfassung/Abstract

Aim: The aim of the present study was to examine the associations between forgiveness and adult weight gain and to test whether emotional eating mediates this relationship. Forgiveness was conceptualized as an emotion-focused coping strategy for managing intrapersonal, interpersonal, and situational stressors, whereas emotional eating was viewed as a maladaptive coping response to stress-related emotional dysregulation.

Subject and methods: Participants were 160 college students and community adults (M_age = 25, SD = 13; 68% female) who completed an online survey assessing forgiveness, emotional eating, and self-reported adult weight gain. Latent structural equation modeling was used to examine direct and indirect associations between forgiveness and adult weight gain through emotional eating.

Results: Higher levels of forgiveness were associated with approximately 3.5 pounds less adult weight gain (B = −3.57, p = .03), whereas greater emotional eating was associated with about 3 pounds more weight gain (B = 3.11, p = .003). Mediation analyses indicated that forgiveness was indirectly associated with approximately 1 pound less adult weight gain through its negative association with emotional eating (B = −0.90, p = .049).

Conclusions: This study provides the first empirical evidence linking forgiveness, emotional eating, and adult weight gain within a single conceptual model. The findings suggest that forgiveness may function as a psychosocial resource that reduces maladaptive eating behaviors and, in turn, limits weight gain. These results highlight the potential relevance of forgiveness-based and emotion regulation–focused strategies in interventions aimed at preventing stress-related weight gain.