A daily diary study of emotion regulation as a moderator of negative affect-binge eating associations. 2022

Megan E Mikhail, and Natasha Fowler, and S Alexandra Burt, and Michael C Neale, and Pamela K Keel, and Debra K Katzman, and Kelly L Klump
Department of Psychology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, USA.

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. 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. 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 binge-eating 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 within-person analyses. 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. 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 dysregulated eating overall, ER did not impact the association between NA and dysregulated eating. Other approaches may therefore be needed to mitigate NA-dysregulated eating associations.

UI MeSH Term Description Entries
D008137 Longitudinal Studies Studies in which variables relating to an individual or group of individuals are assessed over a period of time. Bogalusa Heart Study,California Teachers Study,Framingham Heart Study,Jackson Heart Study,Longitudinal Survey,Tuskegee Syphilis Study,Bogalusa Heart Studies,California Teachers Studies,Framingham Heart Studies,Heart Studies, Bogalusa,Heart Studies, Framingham,Heart Studies, Jackson,Heart Study, Bogalusa,Heart Study, Framingham,Heart Study, Jackson,Jackson Heart Studies,Longitudinal Study,Longitudinal Surveys,Studies, Bogalusa Heart,Studies, California Teachers,Studies, Jackson Heart,Studies, Longitudinal,Study, Bogalusa Heart,Study, California Teachers,Study, Longitudinal,Survey, Longitudinal,Surveys, Longitudinal,Syphilis Studies, Tuskegee,Syphilis Study, Tuskegee,Teachers Studies, California,Teachers Study, California,Tuskegee Syphilis Studies
D002032 Bulimia Eating an excess amount of food in a short period of time, as seen in the disorder of BULIMIA NERVOSA. It is caused by an abnormal craving for food, or insatiable hunger also known as "ox hunger". Binge Eating,Bulimias,Eating, Binge
D004644 Emotions Those affective states which can be experienced and have arousing and motivational properties. Feelings,Regret,Emotion,Feeling,Regrets
D005260 Female Females
D006801 Humans Members of the species Homo sapiens. Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D000080103 Emotional Regulation The manifestation of an emotional response by which individuals influence the intensity, duration, valence, or manifestation of their response. Emotion regulation either precedes (avoidance, interpretation) or follows an emotion (suppression, reappraisal). Emotion regulation is distinct from coping (focuses primarily on decreasing a negative emotional experience), and can include increasing or decreasing both positive and negative emotions consciously or unconsciously. Emotion Regulation,Emotion Self-Regulation,Emotional Self-Regulation,Emotion Self Regulation,Emotion Self-Regulations,Emotional Regulations,Emotional Self Regulation,Emotional Self-Regulations,Regulation, Emotion,Regulation, Emotional,Regulations, Emotional,Self-Regulation, Emotion,Self-Regulation, Emotional,Self-Regulations, Emotion,Self-Regulations, Emotional
D056912 Binge-Eating Disorder A disorder associated with three or more of the following: eating until feeling uncomfortably full; eating large amounts of food when not physically hungry; eating much more rapidly than normal; eating alone due to embarrassment; feeling of disgust, DEPRESSION, or guilt after overeating. Criteria includes occurrence on average, at least 2 days a week for 6 months. The binge eating is not associated with the regular use of inappropriate compensatory behavior (i.e. purging, excessive exercise, etc.) and does not co-occur exclusively with BULIMIA NERVOSA or ANOREXIA NERVOSA. (From DSM-IV, 1994) Binge Eating Disorder,Binge-Eating Disorders,Disorder, Binge-Eating,Disorders, Binge-Eating

Related Publications

Megan E Mikhail, and Natasha Fowler, and S Alexandra Burt, and Michael C Neale, and Pamela K Keel, and Debra K Katzman, and Kelly L Klump
February 2016, Appetite,
Megan E Mikhail, and Natasha Fowler, and S Alexandra Burt, and Michael C Neale, and Pamela K Keel, and Debra K Katzman, and Kelly L Klump
January 2019, Eating behaviors,
Megan E Mikhail, and Natasha Fowler, and S Alexandra Burt, and Michael C Neale, and Pamela K Keel, and Debra K Katzman, and Kelly L Klump
August 2019, Journal of psychiatric research,
Megan E Mikhail, and Natasha Fowler, and S Alexandra Burt, and Michael C Neale, and Pamela K Keel, and Debra K Katzman, and Kelly L Klump
April 2017, Addiction (Abingdon, England),
Megan E Mikhail, and Natasha Fowler, and S Alexandra Burt, and Michael C Neale, and Pamela K Keel, and Debra K Katzman, and Kelly L Klump
September 2025, Emotion (Washington, D.C.),
Megan E Mikhail, and Natasha Fowler, and S Alexandra Burt, and Michael C Neale, and Pamela K Keel, and Debra K Katzman, and Kelly L Klump
October 2023, Journal of personality,
Megan E Mikhail, and Natasha Fowler, and S Alexandra Burt, and Michael C Neale, and Pamela K Keel, and Debra K Katzman, and Kelly L Klump
September 2023, European eating disorders review : the journal of the Eating Disorders Association,
Megan E Mikhail, and Natasha Fowler, and S Alexandra Burt, and Michael C Neale, and Pamela K Keel, and Debra K Katzman, and Kelly L Klump
September 2025, Emotion (Washington, D.C.),
Megan E Mikhail, and Natasha Fowler, and S Alexandra Burt, and Michael C Neale, and Pamela K Keel, and Debra K Katzman, and Kelly L Klump
November 2021, Behavior therapy,
Megan E Mikhail, and Natasha Fowler, and S Alexandra Burt, and Michael C Neale, and Pamela K Keel, and Debra K Katzman, and Kelly L Klump
December 2021, Psychiatria polska,
Copied contents to your clipboard!