Introduction: Individual differences pertaining to cognitive and affective processes toward job stress stimuli may influence food choice and intake, leading to overeating and obesity. This study was conducted to determine the relationship between job stress and abdominal obesity with anger as a personality trait and overeating as moderators among male workers in Malaysia.
Methods: This cross-sectional study involved 492 male employees from 33 private companies in various states in Malaysia. The companies and workers were approached by convenience sampling. Workers who fulfilled the study inclusion criteria completed validated questionnaires assessing job stress, anger as a personality trait and overeating, using the Oldenburg Burnout Inventory-Exhaustion, Spielberger Trait Anger Scale and Three Factor Eating Questionnaire-Uncontrolled, respectively. Weight, height and abdominal circumference were taken for each participant. Moderation effect analyses were conducted based on standard multiple regression.
Results: For two-way interaction, a significant curvilinear regression equation was found to predict overeating based on job stress as a predictor and anger as a moderator (β=0.93, SE=0.46, t=2.03, p=0.043). High anger was associated with higher overeating behaviour on exposure to high job stress level (F (7, 484) = 9.36, p