The role of emotion dysregulation in eating disorders among adolescents

Emotion dysregulation refers to difficulties individuals experience controlling and processing their emotional experiences. Such difficulties are linked to a range of mental disorders, including eating disorders. Adolescence is a key developmental period that is characterised by both more intense emotional experiences and increased eating disorder symptoms, positioning emotion dysregulation as a transdiagnostic factor in the development and maintenance of eating pathology. Study one reviews how research on emotion dysregulation prior to this thesis fits within the CBT-E model and provides avenues for future research regarding the interplay of emotion dysregulation and eating disorder pathology. Study two examines how adolescents in treatment for an eating disorder report more severe eating disorder symptoms compared to adolescents not receiving treatment, despite similar levels of general psychological distress. Study three focuses on differences in associations between eating disorder diagnostic groups and emotion dysregulation domains among high school students. Findings showed that emotion dysregulation is particularly related to binge eating and fasting, and evident across diagnostic groups. Study four examines whether emotion dysregulation and weight and shape concerns interact in their association with concurrent eating disorder behaviours. While it was hypothesised that emotion dysregulation would amplify the role of weight and shape concerns in predicting eating pathology, there was no evidence for moderation; rather, both these factors had additive relationships with eating disorder behaviours. Study five extends this finding longitudinally to show that emotion dysregulation predicted an increased probability of engaging in binge eating and fasting one year later, controlling for weight and shape concerns. Collectively, these studies indicate that emotion dysregulation is a key transdiagnostic factor in eating pathology among adolescents that is implicated in both the onset and maintenance of these problems.