Does socially induced negative affect influence high-calorie food intake in adolescents? The role of emotion regulation strategy.

The prevalence of adolescent obesity is closely linked to excessive consumption of high-calorie foods. Although extensive research has demonstrated the influence of emotions and emotion regulation strategies on eating behavior, little is known about the specific role of socially induced negative affect. Based on the Incentive Sensitization Theory of Addiction and the cognitive mechanisms of emotional stimuli processing, the present study recruited junior high school students and conducted two experiments to examine whether socially induced negative affect leads to a greater increase in high-calorie food intake among adolescents compared to nonsocially induced negative affect, as well as to explore the role of emotion regulation strategies. Experiment 1 showed that exposure to socially induced negative affect led to a significantly greater increase in high-calorie food intake compared to both nonsocially induced negative and neutral affective conditions. Experiment 2 showed that participants who used cognitive reappraisal during socially induced negative affect chose significantly less high-calorie food than those who used expressive suppression. The results demonstrate that socially induced negative affect influences adolescent high-calorie food intake and the specific use of cognitive reappraisal in regulating emotion-driven consumption. The present study extends theoretical understanding of social affective influences on dietary behavior and provides actionable insights for developing targeted emotion-regulation interventions to promote health for adolescents.