Second year PhD student, Rachael Moss was awarded first prize by the Scientific Committee for her poster

One of our 2nd year PhD students, Rachael Moss was awarded first prize by the Scientific Committee in the general poster category at the Division of Health Psychology Conference on the 8th September.

The Annual British Psychological Society’s ‘Division of Health Psychology’ Conference give academics and postgraduate students a chance to present, discuss and debate on their research specialities, as well as topical concerns within the field of health psychology.

Rachael’s poster was summarising the findings of her first research study, and was entitled: ‘The impact of stress on the eating behaviours of primary school-aged children and undergraduate students.’

This study aimed to explore how positive and negative emotions influence the snacking responses of primary school children and undergraduate students. There seems to be a paucity of research exploring how stress influences the eating behaviours of children, and as such, this was our primary area for focus. Current literature seems to show that stress negatively affects adults’ eating behaviours, however, it is not clear whether this detrimental pattern exists when children experience a similar level of stress or negative emotion.

The study utilised questionnaires to explore whether or not participants wanted to eat a snack when experiencing either positive or negative emotions. The study identified that children choose unhealthy snacks more frequently when experiencing positive emotions, the opposite finding was identified in the undergraduate student cohort, with these students choosing unhealthy snacks for negative emotions. 

Congratulations on your success Rachael!