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Emotion regulation difficulties and dietary restraint independently predict binge eating among men

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Eating and Weight Disorders - Studies on Anorexia, Bulimia and Obesity Aims and scope Submit manuscript

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.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Martin Kimmel and Hedvig Sultson for their contribution in collecting the data.

Funding

The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Psychology, University of Tartu, Näituse 2, 50409, Tartu, Estonia

    Katrin Kukk & Kirsti Akkermann

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  1. Katrin Kukk
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Correspondence to Katrin Kukk.

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The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the University of Tartu ethics committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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This article is part of topical collection on Males and eating and weight disorders.

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Kukk, K., Akkermann, K. Emotion regulation difficulties and dietary restraint independently predict binge eating among men. Eat Weight Disord 25, 1553–1560 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40519-019-00791-9

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