*2.4. Statistical Analyses*

Data analyses were conducted using the SPSS v26 software (IBM, Armonk, NY, USA). First, descriptive statistics (mean, standard deviation) were performed to analyze the sociodemographic data of the sample. Second, Cronbach's alpha was calculated to establish the internal consistency of the psychometrical measures, with coefficients above 0.70 being considered adequate [62].

Finally, three hierarchical multiple regressions were conducted to determine whether external, emotional, and restrained eating styles (DEBQ-C) were explained by ghrelin, IR, and leptin/adiponectin ratio after controlling for sex and age. Thus, the control variables (sex and age) were entered at Block 1, and the rest of the independent variables were entered at Block 2. Preliminary analyses were performed to check normality, linearity, homoscedasticity, and multicollinearity assumptions, with no serious violations noted.
