The Role of Emotion Regulation Difficulties as a Mediator of the Relationship between Body Image Disturbance and Disordered Eating Behavior

The prevalence of disordered eating behaviors has been reported to increase in recent decades; therefore, the search for specific psychological variables that may contribute to the etiology of this disorder is of great importance. The current study examined the mediating role of the emotion regulation difficulties on the relationship between body image disturbance and disordered eating behavior among students. This cross-sectional study was performed in 2015 upon a sample consisting of 264 students in Allame Tabatabaie University were selected based on a Morgan formula and multi-stage cluster random sampling. Then, participants responded to the questionnaires of emotion regulation difficulties of Gratz and Roemer (2004), The Multidimensional Body-Self Relations Questionnaire (MBSRQ) of Cash (2000) and eating attitudes test of Garner and Garfinkel (1979). The data were analyzed by correlation techniques and multiple regressions. The results showed that there was internal significant correlation among emotion regulation difficulties, body image disturbance and disordered eating behaviors (p<0.01). Also, regression analysis indicated that emotion regulation difficulties significantly mediated the relationship between body image disturbance and disordered eating behaviors (p<0.01). According to the findings of the present study, considering the role of emotion regulation difficulties in the relationship between body image disturbance and eating disorders is important for prevention and therapy programs.