Eating profiles and health among African Americans with serious mental illness who are overweight

Abstract

African Americans (AAs) who have serious mental illness (SMI) and are overweight face elevated risk for emotional eating, yet the psychosocial predictors of this behavior remain understudied. We analyzed data from 212 AAs with SMI who were overweight (average BMI = 37.9) using hierarchical regression. Model 1 included mental and physical health; Model 2 added recovery; and Model 3 incorporated weight self-efficacy. Models 1 and 3 significantly predicted emotional eating, each yielding significant increases in explained variance. To capture heterogeneity in eating behaviors, we conducted a latent profile analysis using significant predictors, identifying two distinct groups: Reactive Eating and Mindful Eating. The Reactive group reported greater susceptibility to eating in response to negative emotions and lower weight self-efficacy, but better physical health than the Mindful group. Sociodemographic differences were also observed. Findings underline the importance of developing interventions tailored to emotion-related eating among AAs with a diagnosis of SMI who are overweight.