Emotion regulation and disordered eating behaviour in youths: Two daily‐diary studies

• Published in: European eating disorders review Vol. 31; no. 5; pp. 655 - 669
• Main Authors: Dworschak, Christine, Polack, Reuma Gadassi, Winschel, Julia, Joormann, Jutta, Kober, Hedy
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England John Wiley and Sons, Limited 01.09.2023
• Subjects: Adolescent; adolescents; children; COVID-19; Eating behavior; Eating disorders; emotion regulation; Emotional Regulation; Emotions - physiology; Feeding and Eating Disorders; Humans; Pandemics; emotion regulation; eating disorders; adolescents; children
• ISSN: 1072-4133; 1099-0968
• DOI: 10.1002/erv.2993

Objective Disordered eating cognitions and behaviours in childhood and adolescence have been identified as precursors for the development of eating disorders. Another important contributor to eating disorder risk is maladaptive emotion regulation. However, while the regulation of negative affect has been the focus of much research, the literature on the role of positive emotion regulation in eating pathology is extremely limited. The present study extends previous research by examining the regulation of both positive and negative affect in disordered eating using two waves of a daily diary design. Method Every evening for 21 days, 139 youths (8–15 years) reported their use of rumination, dampening, and disordered eating cognitions and behaviours. 1 year later, during the onset of the COVID‐19 pandemic, 115 of these youths were followed‐up. Results As predicted, higher levels of rumination and dampening were found to be associated with a higher frequency of weight concerns and restrictive eating on person‐level (both Waves) and day‐level (Wave 2). Further, a higher frequency of rumination at Wave 1 predicted increases in the frequency of restrictive eating 1 year later. Conclusions Our findings underline the importance of examining regulation of both positive and negative emotion in order to understand eating disorder risk. Highlights The current study used two waves of a daily diary design to assess disordered eating in youths. Rumination was associated with disordered eating cross sectionally and longitudinally. We are the first to show that dampening is also associated with disordered eating.