Emotion regulation difficulties and dietary restraint independently predict binge eating among men
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ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Emotion regulation difficulties and dietary restraint independently predict binge eating among men Katrin Kukk1 · Kirsti Akkermann1 Received: 9 May 2019 / Accepted: 30 September 2019 © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019
Abstract Purpose Research on eating disorder symptoms among men is growing, but there still are few specific models of disordered eating. The aim of the current study is to expand the literature on male eating behavior by investigating how negative affect can lead to binge eating and overeating through possible mediators, i.e., emotion regulation difficulties and dietary restraint, both separately and together in an integrative model. Methods Altogether 104 men (mean age 27.3, SD = 8.02; BMI 24.2, SD = 2.92) participated in the study using ecological momentary assessment to collect data on negative affect, the urge to restrict, and the occurrence of binge eating and overeating episodes. Self-report questionnaires were used to measure emotion regulation difficulties and eating disorder symptoms. Results We found that both emotion regulation difficulties and the urge to restrict mediated the effect of negative affect on binge eating in separate models as well as in an integrated model. However, emotion regulation difficulties did not predict the urge to restrict in the joint model. These models did not predict overeating, indicating the pathological nature of binge eating. Conclusions Our data suggest that negative emotions themselves do not lead to binge eating, but manifest through emotion regulation difficulties and dietary restraint. The results indicate that emotion regulation and restraint play a role in precipitating binge eating among men. However, the emotion regulation and restraint pathways seem to operate independently from one another. Our study also supports the differentiation of overeating and binge eating, as these seem to have different etiologies. Level of Evidence Level V, cross-sectional descriptive study. Keywords Binge eating · Overeating · Men · Emotion regulation · Dietary restraint
Introduction Binge eating (BE) is the most common eating disorder (ED) symptom among men and women [1]. In the existing literature, the prevalence rates of at least weekly episodes of BE among men vary, ranging from .9 to 7.8% [2, 3], and the prevalence of ED symptoms is growing among men [2]. BE is associated with higher negative affect (NA) and overall distress [4–6]. NA is considered to be a risk factor This article is part of topical collection on Males and eating and weight disorders. * Katrin Kukk [email protected] Kirsti Akkermann [email protected] 1
Institute of Psychology, University of Tartu, Näituse 2, 50409 Tartu, Estonia
and a maintaining factor for disordered eating and has been shown to precede BE [7, 8]. In a similar vein, among female individuals with BE and binge eating disorder (BED), significantly lower mood has been found on binge days versus non-binge days [8, 9]. This is in accord with emotion regulation (ER) theories of BE, which posit
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