(PS7-5) Association Between Specific Emotion Regulation Difficulties and Disordered Eating Symptoms

Problem or

Purpose:

Disordered eating behaviors affect around 20% of college students, and emotion dysregulation is seen as a correlate (Alhaj et al., 2022; Sullivan et al., 2010). Previous studies on emotion regulation and disordered eating behaviors focused on the strategies one may use for emotion regulation and the total score from the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS). Research is lacking on how specific emotion regulation difficulties are associated with various disordered eating behaviors. Previous research has shown that disordered eating is used as a form of control and/or as a coping mechanism and has documented strong associations between overall emotion regulation difficulties (DERS total score) and eating disorder behaviors (Halmi, 2013; Sullivan et al., 2010). The current study examined the association between multiple domains of emotion regulation and disordered eating behaviors. It was expected that the specific emotion regulation difficulties of nonacceptance of emotional responses and limited access to emotion regulation strategies would be associated with higher scores on multiple domains of disordered eating in a sample of young adults.

 
Procedure:

Data for the current study were collected through an online campus survey system at a public university in the south-central United States. The sample included 859 college students with a mean age of 21 who self-identified as cisgender female (75.5%), white (81.2%), and heterosexual (84%). Participants completed a series of questionnaires, including the Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire (EDE-Q), which contains subscales of restraint, eating concerns, shape concerns, and weight concerns. Participants also completed the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS), which has six subscales - nonacceptance of emotional responses, lack of emotional clarity, lack of strategies, difficulty in goal-directed behavior, lack of emotional awareness, and difficulty controlling impulses.

Results:

Linear regression analyses were used to examine how emotion regulation subscales are associated with disordered eating outcomes (EDE-Q subscales). Four regression analyses were run, one for each EDE-Q subscale as an outcome variable. None of the DERS subscales were associated with restraint or eating concerns. However, the nonacceptance of emotions subscale was significantly associated with shape concerns. The lack of emotional clarity subscale was significantly associated with weight concerns.

Conclusions and Implications:

This study examined the relationships between specific emotional regulation difficulties and disordered eating symptoms. Results suggest that emotion regulation difficulties may be more associated with body-related symptoms of disordered eating (weight and shape concerns) than eating-related symptoms (restraint and eating concerns). Nonacceptance of emotion and lack of emotional clarity were the only specific difficulties significantly associated with shape and weight concerns, respectively. Future research should include the reasons for disordered eating behaviors and how they relate to difficulties in regulating emotion.