Weight stigmatization, internalization, and eating disorder symptoms: The role of emotion dysregulation.

Abstract

Weight-based stigmatization is a prevalent problem that can result in disordered eating, especially if weight bias internalization is also present. Emotion dysregulation is correlated with disordered eating as well, and it is not known whether emotion dysregulation may worsen disordered eating in those who experience weight stigmatization. The current study aimed to fill this gap in the literature with 2 hypotheses: that those who report emotion dysregulation and have experienced weight stigma would display disordered eating, and that those who also had internalized weight bias would have even more severe disordered eating. One hundred four students completed surveys enquiring about their weight stigmatization experiences, emotion regulation, weight bias internalization, and disordered eating behaviors. Multiple regression analyses supported the influence of stigmatization, emotion dysregulation, and internalization on disordered eating, and the interaction of weight stigmatization and emotion dysregulation. These results indicate the importance of considering emotion dysregulation in the weight-based stigmatization literature.

Weight bias internalization and health: a systematic review

“…Moderate to strong correlations were consistently reported between WBI and binge eating symptoms ( r values = 0.43–0.62) . Only one study reported a correlation of less than r = 0.30 .…”

“…Eleven studies have examined the relationship between WBI and other indices of psychological distress, including emotion regulation (75,76) (such as rumination (65)), perceived stress (79), negative affect,(32) dissociative experiences (53), somatic symptoms (47,52), maladaptive coping with experiences of weight stigma (78) and general psychological distress (63,80). Collectively, this research found that WBI was consistently and significantly associated with increased psychological distress.…”

“…Only one study reported a correlation of less than r = 0.30 (67). These associations were documented in both community and clinical samples (19, [56][57][58][59]66,67,70,75). Significant correlations were also reported for links between WBI and frequency of binge eating in the past 3 or 6 months, as well as objective and subjective binge eating episodes (r values = 0.25-0.53) (7,40,46).…”

“…between WBI and eating disorder pathology (such as dietary restraint, drive for thinness, emotional eating, purging or other maladaptive eating behaviours) have been examined using a variety of validated measures (7,21,22,34,37,40,46,49,51,55,57,60,63,(66)(67)(68)73,(75)(76)(77) or survey items created by researchers to assess eating behaviours specifically in response to experiences of weight stigma (50,78). Across these measures, studies have demonstrated significant correlations between WBI and dietary restraint (r values = 0.21-0.50), eating concerns (r values = 0.37-0.64), drive for thinness (r = 0.47) and measures assessing disinhibition, uncontrolled eating and emotional eating (r values = 0.46-0.65).…”

Kundalini yoga in women with anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa: A qualitative research

“…Al respecto, algunos estudios han encontrado que esta práctica resulta favorable para este tipo de pacientes, promoviendo que se sientan mejor con sus cuerpos, capten mejor sus sensaciones, tengan actitudes más sanas hacia la comida, se expresen más satisfechos consigo mismos y disminuya su interés en tener una delgadez insana (Carei, Fyfe-Johnson, Breuner y Brown, 2009;Daubenmier, 2005;Foltz-Gray, 2006, 2007Prichard y Tiggemann, 2007;Shannahoff-Khalsa, 2006). Así, dadas las características de estos pacientes, en cuanto a las problemáticas que presentan en términos de regulación emocional (Douglas y Varnado-Sullivan, 2016;Racine y Wildes, 2013), autocontrol e imagen corporal (Lavender et al, 2015), esta técnica puede ser beneficiosa para su tratamiento (Klein y Cook-Cottone, 2013).…”