Emotion skills help teens keep weight off after treatment, US trial finds

Teenagers who learned skills to manage their emotions as part of a family weight-management programme were better at keeping weight off in the year after treatment ended, according to a randomised clinical trial published on October 22, 2026 in the journal JAMA Network Open. The trial, run by researchers at the University of California, San Diego and the University of Minnesota, enrolled 166 pairs of adolescents aged 13 to 16 and one parent each. Adding emotion-focused skills did not lead to more weight loss during the six months of treatment, but it reduced weight regain over the following year.

Keeping weight off after a programme ends is a common challenge, and this trial looked at one possible reason for regain: emotional eating, which means eating in response to stress, boredom, sadness or anxiety rather than hunger.

The added skills came from two established psychological approaches. Dialectical behavior therapy teaches people to notice, tolerate and manage strong emotions. Emotion-focused therapy helps people understand what they are feeling and respond to it in healthier ways. In this trial, teenagers and their parents learned these skills alongside the usual advice on food, physical activity and family routines.

The result matters because it points to the mind, not only the plate. Treatment that teaches young people how to handle difficult feelings without turning to food appears to help the benefits last, at least in this group. For families, it also shows that weight is not just a matter of willpower; emotions and the home environment play a part.

There are limits. The trial was carried out in the United States, with 166 families, and its results may not apply in the same way to Indian teenagers, whose diets, schedules and family structures differ. Different summaries of the paper give different percentage figures for how many teens kept a meaningful weight loss at each stage, so the exact size of the benefit should be read from the published paper. The study also measured weight and eating behaviour over about 18 months, not over the longer term.

Short-term: The findings give doctors, dietitians and psychologists who run family weight programmes evidence for adding emotion-management sessions. Teenagers and parents looking at such programmes can ask whether they include help with stress and emotional eating.

Long-term: If similar results are found in other countries and larger groups, weight programmes for young people may increasingly combine nutrition and exercise advice with mental health skills.

Who is affected: Teenagers living with excess weight and their families, school counsellors, paediatricians, dietitians and psychologists, and health services that design weight-management programmes for young people.

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