A daily diary study of emotion regulation as a moderator of negative affect‐binge eating associations

Abstract

Background: While negative affect (NA) typically increases risk for binge eating, the ultimate impact of NA may depend on a person's ability to regulate their emotions. In this daily, longitudinal study, we examined whether emotion regulation (ER) modified the strength of NA-dysregulated eating associations.Methods: Women (N = 311) from the Michigan State University Twin Registry first reported dimensional binge eating symptoms and broad ER difficulties (e.g., limited emotional awareness, difficulty controlling emotional impulses). Participants then rated use of adaptive (cognitive reappraisal, social sharing, situation modification, and acceptance) and maladaptive (rumination, expressive suppression, and self-criticism) ER strategies, emotional eating (EE), objective binge eating (OBE), and NA once daily for 49 consecutive days.Results: There were several main effects of ER on binge-eating pathology in both between-person (i.e., comparing women who differed on average) and within-person (i.e., examining fluctuations in variables day-to-day) analyses.Between-person, greater broad ER difficulties, greater maladaptive strategy use, and lower adaptive strategy use were all associated with greater bingeeating pathology. Within-person, greater maladaptive strategy use was associated with greater odds of OBE on that day and on the following day. However, neither broad ER difficulties nor use of specific strategies moderated associations between NA and dysregulated eating in between-or withinperson analyses.Conclusions: While ER is independently associated with risk for dysregulated eating, it may not fully mitigate the impact of NA. Additional strategies (e.g., decreasing environmental stressors and increasing social support) may be needed to minimize NA and its impact on dysregulated eating.Public Significance: Negative affect (NA; e.g., sadness, guilt) increases dysregulated eating risk. Because NA is sometimes unavoidable, we examined whether emotion regulation (ER; i.e., how a person responds to their emotions) might impact whether NA leads to dysregulated eating. Although more effective ER was associated with less

Tension and disordered eating behaviors in the daily lives of adolescents and young adults from the general population: Associations and moderating role of trait emotion regulation

“…Contrary to previous EMA findings on general negative affect and binge eating in men (Kukk & Akkermann, 2020), but in line with more recent findings from a daily diary study on daily negative affect and facets of disinhibited eating in women (Mikhail, Fowler, Burt et al ., 2022), the present study did not reveal any interactions between tension and trait emotion regulation skills in predicting DEBs. Importantly, the present study assessed levels of adaptive emotion regulation capabilities rather than maladaptive emotion regulation strategies.…”

“…While Kukk and Akkerman (2020) indeed found a mediating effect of difficulties in emotion regulation between negative affect and binge eating, Mikhail, Fowler, Burt et al . (2022) found no moderating effects of either adaptive or maladaptive emotion regulation strategies. Future studies should examine potential reasons for such inconsistent findings, such as differential effects dependent on sex and age.…”

“…In addition, state access to adaptive emotion regulation strategies in everyday life, which again may depend on various situational aspects, such as the availability of social support or current location, could be more crucial in modulating effects of tension on DEBs than trait emotion regulation skills. Although difficulties in state emotion regulation have been previously associated with engagement in disinhibited and restrictive DEBs (Mikhail, Fowler, Burt et al ., 2022; Mikhail & Kring, 2019; Parker, Michael, Murray, Juarascio & Manasse, 2021), a study on adults with binge eating disorder did not find moderation effects between negative affect and state (mal)adaptive emotion regulation on subsequent binge eating (Svaldi, Werle, Naumann, Eichler & Berking, 2019). However, further research regarding potential moderating effects of momentary tension reduction skills as well as general state emotion regulation skills in the context of restrictive DEBs may be beneficial.…”

“…Importantly, the present study assessed levels of adaptive emotion regulation capabilities rather than maladaptive emotion regulation strategies. While some previous findings suggest an association between better adaptive emotion regulation and lower levels of DEBs (McLean, Paxton & Wertheim, 2010; Mikhail & Kring, 2019), other work suggests that more dysfunctional emotion regulation strategies (such as avoidance or suppression) may be of particular relevance in the context of eating pathology (Aldao, Nolen‐Hoeksema & Schweizer, 2010; Mikhail, Fowler, Burt et al ., 2022). While Kukk and Akkerman (2020) indeed found a mediating effect of difficulties in emotion regulation between negative affect and binge eating, Mikhail, Fowler, Burt et al .…”

“…Previous studies have rarely addressed potential interaction effects between general negative affect and emotion regulation skills on DEBs, and related findings have been inconsistent. One study reported that trait emotion regulation difficulties may explain the relationship between average negative affect and binge eating in adult men (Kukk & Akkermann, 2020), while a different study found no significant moderating effect of trait emotion regulation difficulties in the context of negative affect and facets of disinhibited eating in women (Mikhail, Fowler, Burt et al ., 2022).…”