E-ISSN : 2733-4538
The purpose of this study was to elucidate the emotional factors underlying bulimic symptoms among high-risk female college students. Specifically, we investigated the additive and the interactive effects of negative affect and emotion dysregulation on levels of bulimic symptoms. Moreover, we examined whether such effects may vary across different subcomponents of emotion dysregulation. Participants included 109 female college students who were at risk for bulimia nervosa. They completed a series of self-report inventories assessing negative affect, emotion dysregulation, and bulimic symptoms. The results indicated that main effects (but not interactive effects) of both negative affect and emotion dysregulation, significantly and positively predicted bulimic symptoms. Additionally, none of the sub-components of emotion dysregulation, except for impulse control difficulties, significantly accounted for bulimic symptoms, over and above negative affect. The sub-components of lack of emotional awareness and lack of emotional clarity moderated the relationship between negative affect and bulimic symptoms such that negative affect was associated with bulimic symptoms only for individuals with average or high scores on each subcomponents of emotion dysregulation. These findings suggest that negative affect and emotion regulation, particularly emotional awareness and clarity, may be a promising target for early prediction and intervention of bulimic symptoms among college women.
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