Measuring the Influence of Stress on Eating: Taking Stock of the Salzburg Stress Eating Scale.

The Salzburg Stress Eating Scale (SSES) was developed in 2018 to measure stress-related changes in food intake. The questionnaire consists of 10 items that depict stressful situations and responses are recorded on a five-point scale ranging from 1 = I eat much less than usual to 5 = I eat much more than usual (with the middle of the scale indicating no change in food intake when being stressed). In this unsystematic review we provide an overview of studies that have used the SSES thus far, which includes a description of adaptations of the SSES (e.g., translations into other languages and versions for other health-related behaviors) and its psychometric properties. Findings generally support reliability and validity of the SSES in multiple languages. However, whether the SSES exhibits predictive validity (i.e., accurate prediction of naturalistic and experimental data) remains an open question for future research, as findings of naturalistic studies have been mixed and laboratory studies are absent. Future avenues include developing alternative scoring procedures, combining the scale with adapted versions for other health behaviors-such as alcohol consumption, smoking, and physical activity-and promoting its use in trans-cultural, longitudinal, and clinical studies.