Mindfulness Facets Differentially Relate to Self-Reported Negative and Positive Emotional Eating Types in Treatment-Seeking Adults with Overweight/Obesity

Abstract

Background Mindfulness is a meaningful therapeutic target in the treatment of emotional eating in adults with overweight/obesity. Descriptive research mapping relations between mindfulness facets and emotional eating types in treatment-seeking adults with overweight/obesity is needed. Methods Cross-sectional relations between mindfulness facets (i.e., acting with awareness, describe, non-judgment, non-reactive, and observe; Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire-Short Form) and emotional eating types (i.e., self-reported negative and positive emotional eating; Emotional Eating Scale-Revised, Emotional Appetite Questionnaire) were examined in a treatment-seeking sample of adults with overweight/obesity. Results Significant bivariate correlations revealed negative relations between mindfulness facets and emotional eating types. Multiple regressions revealed that higher describe (β=-.42, p = .004) mindfulness was associated with lower self-reported emotional eating-anger/anxiety; higher non-reactive (β=-.31, p = .01) and non-judgment (β=-.28, p = .02) mindfulness were associated with lower self-reported emotional eating-depression; and higher observe (β=-.24, p = .05) and non-judgment (β = .26, p = .04) mindfulness were associated with lower and higher self-reported emotional eating-positive, respectively. Conclusions Research with adults with overweight/obesity should be inclusive of mindfulness facets to best capture the nature of relations with self-reported negative and positive emotional eating types.

Exploring the moderating roles of dispositional mindfulness and body image flexibility in the association between body dissatisfaction and disordered eating in Chinese adolescents

“…Third, the present study used a unidimensional mindfulness measure, which may have omitted important variance contributed by unique facets of mindfulness (e.g., acting with awareness, non‐judgment). Indeed, previous research suggests that mindfulness facets are differentially associated with maladaptive eating behaviors (Barnhart, Kalantzis, & Braden, 2023) and may uniquely moderate associations between maladaptive eating behaviors (e.g., the association between emotional eating and binge eating behavior; Barnhart et al, 2021). Future research sensitive to unidimensional and multidimensional assessments of mindfulness is needed to build on and replicate the role of this adaptive psychological process to moderate the association between body dissatisfaction and disordered eating.…”