Elsevier

Eating Behaviors

Volume 37, April 2020, 101387
Eating Behaviors

Perceived discrimination, emotion dysregulation and loss of control eating in young men

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eatbeh.2020.101387Get rights and content

Highlights

  • Discrimination was positively associated with LOC eating in some young men.

  • Emotion dysregulation did not exacerbate these associations.

  • Ethnic identity may be more relevant to link between discrimination and LOC eating.

Abstract

Experiences with discrimination may account, in part, for race-related disparities in obesity. Yet, there is minimal understanding of the link between perceived discrimination and health behaviors that contribute to obesity. This study examined the link between perceived discrimination and loss of control (LOC) eating in 798 African American, Asian/Asian American, and Hispanic/Latino men (18–30y; M = 24.0 ± 3.6). Emotion dysregulation was examined as a moderator. Participants completed an online survey assessing perceived discrimination; emotion dysregulation; and LOC eating frequency in the last 28 days. Negative binomial regression models were conducted within each racial/ethnic group, as each group completed different measures of perceived discrimination. In Hispanic/Latino men, perceived ethnic discrimination was positively associated with LOC eating frequency (p < .001). In African American men, perceived daily discrimination was positively associated with LOC eating frequency (p < .001). In Asian/Asian American men, neither perceived racial microaggressions nor racism were associated with frequency of LOC eating. Emotion dysregulation did not significantly moderate any of these associations. Findings highlight another detrimental correlate of perceived discrimination among some ethnic minority men – LOC eating. Future research should examine whether other identity- and culture-specific factors serve to exacerbate or mitigate the effects of discrimination on the health and health behaviors of ethnic minority men.

Introduction

African American and Hispanic/Latinx adults have some of the highest rates of obesity (Flegal, Kruszon-Moran, Carroll, Fryar, & Ogden, 2016) and related chronic diseases (Cheng et al., 2018). A range of systemic, environmental and psychosocial factors, such as disparities in income, education, and access to healthy foods, are hypothesized to contribute to these long-standing race-related health inequities in the United States (Williams & Jackson, 2005). Even after considering these socioeconomic disparities, experiences with discrimination, or being judged or unfairly treated because of one's membership to a specific group (National Research Council, 2004), are associated with increased risk for poor health behaviors and chronic disease among racial/ethnic minorities (Paradies et al., 2015; Pascoe & Smart Richman, 2009). These associations may vary by racial/ethnic identity, with some data suggesting Hispanic/Latinx adults demonstrate the strongest link between perceived racial discrimination and poor health (Paradies et al., 2015).

Prominent mechanisms proposed to explain the association between perceived discrimination and elevated risk for obesity and chronic disease risk among racial/ethnic minorities are physiological and psychological (Pascoe & Smart Richman, 2009). Discriminatory experiences are associated with declines in mood and maladaptive physiological changes, including cortisol dysfunction (Korous, Causadias, & Casper, 2017). Recurrent exposure to discrimination may prompt long-term alterations in associated physiological processes and structures, ultimately promoting disease (Harrell et al., 2011). Poor health behaviors, such as smoking, drinking and overeating, may also increase in an effort to cope with discrimination (Pascoe & Smart Richman, 2009). One such problematic behavioral response is loss of control (LOC) eating. LOC eating, referring to the sense of both overeating and having lost control over the type or amount of food being consumed (Wolfe, Baker, Smith, & Kelly-Weeder, 2009), often occurs in response to negative affect (Berg et al., 2015). As such, experiences with discrimination may be associated with more frequent LOC eating secondary to increases in negative affect and subsequent efforts to cope with these distressing feelings.

We recently identified a link between perceived discrimination and LOC eating frequency among African American and Hispanic/Latino men, as well as Asian/Asian American men with low ethnic identity (Kelly et al., 2018). However, the link between perceived discrimination and LOC eating is likely to vary by emotion regulation strategies (Pascoe & Smart Richman, 2009). The degree to which a person is able to notice, tolerate and manage negative affect related to an act of discrimination may determine, in part, an individual's risk for engaging in poor health behaviors associated with obesity and chronic disease. For example, active coping efforts, or taking cognitive and/or behavioral steps to manage a stressor, appear to buffer the link between perceived discrimination and blood pressure among Black women (Clark & Adams, 2004). Avoidance, in contrast, has been shown to exacerbate the association between perceived racial discrimination and problematic drinking behaviors (Gerrard, Gibbons, Fleischli, Cutrona, & Stock, 2018). In young adults, lower cognitive reappraisal and more emotional suppression strengthened the positive association between racial discrimination and mental health symptoms (Juang et al., 2016). No studies have evaluated whether unique facets of emotion dysregulation moderate the association between perceived discrimination and LOC eating. Yet, deficits in emotion regulation are associated with LOC eating behaviors in both men and women (Hayaki & Free, 2016).

The current study evaluated whether emotion dysregulation moderated the association between perceived discrimination and LOC eating frequency in a sample of young, racially/ethnically diverse men. It was hypothesized that perceived discrimination would be positively associated with LOC eating frequency, and that this association would be exacerbated among men with higher emotion dysregulation. Young men under the age of 30 were targeted for investigation in the current study because they report the most frequent LOC eating (Forrester-Knauss & Zemp Stutz, 2012; Nicdao, Hong, & Takeuchi, 2007).

Section snippets

Procedures and measures

Participants living in the United States were recruited through Qualtrics Panels, an online market research sample aggregator who partners with online panel providers and social media outlets. Eligibility criteria included: (a) male; (b) 18 to 30 years old; (c) African American, Hispanic/Latino (Black or White), or Asian/Asian American; and (d) understand English. The current study presents secondary data analysis from a larger study aimed at examining how various cultural factors, with a

Preliminary analyses

After excluding those who completed <80% of the survey, responded in less than 2 min, responded incorrectly to an embedded validity item, and/or appeared to respond in other invalid manners, remaining missing data were minimal (<3%); as such, listwise deletion was utilized on the final data set (Buhi, 2008). Further, according to Little's Missing Completely at Random (MCAR) tests, the MCAR assumption was tenable for all three racial/ethnic groups (ps = 0.55–0.77), supporting our decision to use

Discussion

Disparities in obesity rates exist between racial/ethnic groups (Flegal et al., 2016). Recent research has identified discrimination as one possible explanation for these disparities (Paradies et al., 2015; Pascoe & Smart Richman, 2009). This study examined whether the association between perceived discrimination and LOC eating – a risk factor for obesity (Sonneville et al., 2013) – was moderated by emotion dysregulation in racially/ethnically diverse young men. Results indicated that perceived

Role of funding sources

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

CRediT authorship contribution statement

Nichole R. Kelly: Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Project administration, Writing - original draft, Writing - review and editing. Elizabeth W.Cotter: Writing - review & editing. ClaireGuidinger: Writing - review & editing. GinaWilliamson: Writing - review & editing.

Declaration of competing interest

All authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

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