Disordered Eating in Emerging Adulthood: Examining Dimensions of Emotion Regulation and Their Impacts

Abstract

The emergence of eating pathology in adolescence and young adulthood has led researchers to focus on the development of disordered eating (DE) as a precursor to eating disorders during these developmental periods (Lewis & Nicholls, 2016). In particular, emotion dysregulation has emerged as an important contributor to the development of DE (Hansson et al., 2017). While certain dimensions of emotion regulation, particularly co-rumination (Arroyo et al., 2017), distress tolerance (Emami et al., 2016), and boredom proneness (Crockett et al., 2015), have been linked to DE behaviors, no studies have looked at these dimensions together. Thus, the current study examined the unique contributions of co-rumination, distress tolerance, and boredom proneness as predictors of DE. Undergraduate psychology students (n = 204) were recruited from a Northwestern university (MAge = 19.20, SDAge = 1.95; Female = 77.5%; White = 55.9%); data collection for this study is still ongoing. Participants completed the Co-Rumination Questionnaire (Rose, 2002; mother, father, friend subscales), Distress Tolerance Scale (Simons et al., 2005), Boredom Proneness Scale (Farmer et al., 1986; 2004), and Eating Disorders Examination Questionnaire (Fairburn et al., 1994). See Table 1 for scale reliabilities. Means, standard deviations, and correlations among key variables are reported in Table 1. An ANOVA revealed no significant sex differences among key variables. A backward elimination regression was run to predict DE from co-rumination, distress tolerance, and boredom proneness. The final model for DE predicted the most variance and four out of eight variables statistically predicted DE, F(6, 167) = 9.335, p < .001, R2 = .251 (see Table 2). Mom and friend-led co-rumination, distress tolerance, and boredom proneness significantly predicted DE. In addition to supporting previous findings connecting co-rumination to DE (Arroyo et al., 2017), the results further suggest that co-rumination initiated by others may be uniquely associated with DE compared to co-rumination initiated by the adolescents themselves. Additionally, distress tolerance and boredom proneness emerged as predictors of DE, suggesting these variables may be especially important to recognize and address in clinical settings. Health practitioners might consider how these specific dimensions of emotion dysregulation may impact vulnerable adolescents and apply these concepts in developing healthier emotion regulation and coping skills.