The Mediating Role of Emotion Regulation Difficulties in the Relationship between Abuse Experiences and Body Image Dissatisfaction among Adolescent Girls

The purpose of this study was to examine the mediating role of emotion regulation difficulties in the relationship between abuse experiences and body image dissatisfaction in adolescent girls. The present study was an applied and correlational method based on structural equation modeling. The statistical population of this study was all female high school students in Tehran in the academic year 2019-2020. The sampling method of this study was a multistage cluster procedure. After distributing and collecting the questionnaires and removing the incomplete questionnaires, 218 subjects were finally analyzed. The data collection instruments were the Fisher Body Image Scale (FBIS), the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS), and the Experience of Abuse Questionnaire (CAQ). Data were analyzed using Pearson correlation in Spss-24 software and path analysis in Amos-24 software. The results of the present study showed that there was a significant relationship between the experience of abuse and difficulties in emotion regulation and dissatisfaction with body image. In addition, there was a significant relationship between difficulties in emotion regulation and dissatisfaction with body image. Path analysis also revealed the mediating role of emotion regulation difficulties between abuse experience and body image dissatisfaction. Thus, the experience of child abuse causes body image dissatisfaction in adolescent girls by reinforcing difficulties in emotion regulation.