Emotion Regulation and Loss of Control Eating in Community-Based Adolescents

Abstract

The current study investigated concurrent and prospective associations between emotion-related constructs and loss of control (LOC) eating in adolescents. Community-based females (N=588) completed annual self-report assessments of LOC eating, emotional awareness, emotion regulation strategies, and neuroticism from ages 16–18 years. Linear regressions and a regression-based multiple mediation model using bootstrapping were computed to examine the relationships among emotion-related constructs and LOC eating frequency. In the concurrent model, age 18 emotional awareness and emotion regulation strategies were associated with age 18 LOC eating, F(6, 416)=12.11, p<.001, accounting for 4.5% of the variance after controlling for demographics, body mass index, and neuroticism, F change=10.81, p<.001. In the prospective model, age 17 emotional awareness predicted age 18 LOC eating, F(7, 425)=11.67, p<.001, accounting for 1.7% of unique variance beyond the effects of age 16 LOC eating and age 17 demographics, body mass index, and neuroticism, F change=4.26, p=.015. In the multiple mediation model, age 18 emotion regulation strategies mediated the association between age 17 neuroticism and age 18 LOC eating, indirect effect estimate=.003, 95% confidence interval=.001–.005, after controlling for age 16 LOC eating and age 17 demographics, body mass index, and emotion regulation variables. Results suggest that deficient emotion regulation may contribute to the onset and maintenance of LOC eating in adolescence (although effects were small), and may partially explain the well-established prospective relationship between negative emotionality and later LOC eating. Prevention and early intervention programs should seek to improve adaptive coping in at-risk populations.

Development and preliminary effectiveness of an innovative treatment for binge eating in racially diverse adolescent girls

“…This is consistent with research indicating that negative affect is associated with LOC eating. 9,26 The coping, self-evaluation, and mindfulness skills taught in LIBER8, as well as the attention to examples involving food-related situations, might have made participants more aware of their eating habits and provided tools to improve these behaviors. For the 2BFit group, the structure and focus on nutrition and physical activity seems to have also made participants more aware of their maladaptive eating habits.…”

“…8,9 BE can be challenging to treat in adolescents, because individuals in this age group are still developing their abilities to self-regulate emotions. 10 Consequently, adolescents might be particularly vulnerable to maladaptive coping strategies, such as BE.…”

“…25 Research supports this model, identifying associations among interpersonal problems, negative affect, and LOC eating. 9,26 Moreover, BE is associated with deficits in emotion regulation skills, 9,27 suggesting that interventions emphasizing coping strategies might prove especially effective in treating this problematic eating behavior. 9,28 …”

Risk profiles of personality traits for suicidality among mood disorder patients and community controls

“…A previous systematic review summarized the significant effect on higher N on SA in different samples . It is noted that people with higher tendency of N are reported to have poorer mental health‐related quality of life , less satisfaction with life , and show more difficulties in emotion regulation . Emotional dysregulation is found to significantly increase the risk of suicide attempt .…”

A systematic and methodological review of attentional biases in eating disorders: Food, body, and perfectionism

“…Despite the fact that weight‐related core beliefs are thought to automatically influence stimulus processing in ED (Vitousek & Hollon, ), many studies solely implement interview or self‐report questionnaires to assess information processing and body image‐related perceptions (see, e.g., Bulik, Sullivan, & Kendler, ; Coniglio et al, ; Dakanalis et al, ; Duarte, Pinto‐Gouveia, & Ferreira, ; Gall et al, ; Goldschmidt, Lavender, Hipwell, Stepp, & Keenan, ; Goldschmidt et al, ; Jensen & Steele, ; Loth, MacLehose, Bucchianeri, Crow, & Neumark‐Sztainer, ; Rohde, Stice, & Marti, ; Slane, Burt, & Klump, ; Stephen, Rose, Kenney, Rosselli‐Navarra, & Striegel Weissman, ; Troisi et al, ). While these methods allow for assessment of individuals' conscious belief systems, or “explicit processing", they are unable to access a person's unconscious attentional biases toward or away from specific stimuli, or “implicit processing” that may serve to drive and maintain ED psychopathology.…”