Binge eating and emotional fluctuations: an ecological momentary assessment study
Date
2015
Authors
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Journal ISSN
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Publisher
Tartu Ülikool
Abstract
The objective of current master’s thesis was to investigate the associations between
emotional fluctuations and emotion regulation difficulties in predicting binge eating
episodes in a general population study using ecological momentary assessment
(EMA). In addition, emotional experience was assessed in order to compare the
differential impact of binge eating with and without loss of control. The sample
consisted of 97 women and 61 men in with a mean age of 22.35 (SD = 4.82). The
gender differences in eating behavior were also of interest. The results pointed, that
fluctuations in negative emotion did indeed predict binge eating with loss of control
among both men and women. Among women, the emotion regulation difficulties,
restrained eating, as well as the interaction of negative emotion fluctuations and
emotion regulation difficulties were significant predictors. Among men, impulsivity
predicted binge eating episodes with loss of control. Overall, binge eating with loss of
control, compared to without loss of control, was significantly more associated with
emotion regulation difficulties as well as increased negative emotions indicating the
significance of loss of control in the assessment of eating pathology. It also appeared
that women were considerably more sensitive to binge eating with loss of control as it
resulted in greater levels of negative emotions, whereas among men this tendency was
not found. In addition, binge eating without loss of control resulted in higher rates in
several positive emotions both among men and women.