<![CDATA[Academic stress is a condition of psychological pressure experienced by students in response to excessive or sustained academic demands. Emotional eating refers to eating behavior triggered by emotional states rather than physiological hunger, and is used to obtain emotional comfort or alleviate emotional distress. Undergraduate nursing students are a population particularly vulnerable to academic stress due to the demands of mastering nursing concepts and theories, clinical practice, intensive academic evaluations, and social expectations. These conditions may influence students’ eating behaviors, increase the tendency toward emotional eating, disrupt eating patterns, and negatively affect overall health. This study aimed to examine the relationship between the level of academic stress and emotional eating among undergraduate nursing students at STIKes Muhammadiyah Ciamis. This study employed a quantitative analytic design with a cross-sectional approach. The sampling technique used was purposive sampling, resulting in a total of 153 respondents. The research instruments were The Perception of Academic Stress Scale (PASS) and the Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire (DEBQ). The study was conducted from September to November 2025. The results showed that the majority of students experienced moderate levels of academic stress (146 respondents; 95.4%) and moderate levels of emotional eating (84 respondents; 54.9%). Data analysis using the alternative Chi-Square test, namely Fisher’s Exact Test, yielded a p-value of 0.006 (p < 0.05), while the Linear-by-Linear Association test yielded a p-value of 0.043 (p < 0.05). The findings indicate a significant relationship between academic stress and emotional eating among undergraduate nursing students. These results suggest that higher levels of academic stress are associated with a greater tendency toward emotional eating.]]>
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