Testing a model of Emotional Eating, , Emotional Dysregulation, Self-Esteem, and Impulsivity in Food Addiction among students

There are different research evidence that show similarities between addiction to drugs and consuming some kinds of foods. The purpose of this study was designing and testing a model of some antecedents of food addiction. The participants of the study were 306 undergraduate students of Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz (142 male and 164 female) that were selected by multistage random sampling method. The instruments were used Yale Food Addiction Scale-2, Emotional Eating Scale, Barrat Impulsivity Scale-11, Difficulties in Emotional Regulation Scale and Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale .the Fitness of the proposed model was examined through structural equation modeling, using SPSS-22 and AMOS-21 software packages. The indirect effects were tested using the bootstrap procedure. Findings indicated that the proposed model fits the data relatively. Direct paths from emotional dysregulation and impulsivity to food addiction, emotional dysregulation , and self-esteem to impulsivity and the indirect path from emotional dysregulation and self-esteem to food addiction with the mediating role of impulsivity were statistically significant, but the direct paths from emotional eating and self-esteem to food addiction were not significant. According to the results of this study, emotional dysregulation and impulsivity have a direct effect, and self-esteem has an indirect effect through impulsivity on food addiction.