Comparison of Impulsivity and Difficulties in Emotion Regulation among Overweight Women With and Without Binge Eating Disorder

Binge eating disorder (BED) is one of the most common mental disorders in overweight and obese individuals. However, it seems that there are psychological differences between people with and without this disorder. The aim of the present research was to compare impulsivity and difficulties in emotion regulation in overweight women with and without BED. For the research a descriptive, causal comparative method was used. Participants were selected voluntarily from among overweight and obese women attending health houses, gyms and weight loss clinics of Tehran. Fifty-two women with BED were identified based on criteria of diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (DSM) for BED and were matched with 52 women without BED in terms of BMI and age. The research instruments were the Eating Disorders Diagnostic Scale (EDDS), the Barratt Impulsivity Scale (BIS-11) and the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS). Data was analyzed using Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA). Findings showed that, compared with non-binge eating women, binge eating women had more impulsivity (P<0.05) and difficulties in emotion regulation (P<0.01). In particular, binge eating women had higher scores than non-binge eating women with regard to attentional impulsivity (P<0.01) and motor impulsivity (P<0.05). However, In terms of difficulties in emotion regulation, binge compared to non-binge eating women, binge-eating women had higher scores with regard to non-acceptance of negative emotions (P<0.01), difficulties engaging in Goal-Directed Behavior (P<0.01), Impulse Control Difficulties (P<0.01), and limited access to effective Emotion Regulation Strategies (P<0.01). These findings emphasize that impulsivity and difficulties in emotion regulation play an important role in individuals with BED and focusing on these factors would enhance treatment and management of BED patients.