Interactional Effects of Multidimensional Perfectionism and Cognitive Emotion Regulation Strategies on Eating Disorder Symptoms in Female College Students.

Germaine Y Q Tng,Hwajin Yang

doi:10.3390/brainsci11111374

Abstract

Given the inconclusive findings regarding the relation between perfectionism and eating disorder symptoms, it is important that we determine whether this relation is modulated by emotion dysregulation, which is a prominent risk factor for eating disorders. We sought to identify specific cognitive emotion regulatory strategies—rumination, self-blame, and catastrophizing—that interact with multidimensional perfectionism to shape eating disorder symptoms (i.e., shape, weight, eating concerns, and dietary restraint). Using latent moderated structural equation modeling, we analyzed data from 167 healthy young female adults. We found that only rumination significantly moderated the relation between socially prescribed perfectionism and eating disorder symptoms. However, this was not observed for self-oriented perfectionism or other regulatory strategies. These findings held true when a host of covariates were controlled for. Our findings underscore the crucial role of rumination, a modifiable emotion regulatory strategy, in augmenting the relation between socially prescribed perfectionism and eating disorder symptoms in young women.

Highlights

A substantial proportion of college-aged women (38.9%) [1] report subclinical eating disorder symptoms, including attitudinal and behavioral disturbances [1,2]
We assessed the adequacy of the full-measurement models, which included the latent factors of perfectionism, eating disorder symptoms, and their respective regulatory strategies
We found that socially prescribed perfectionism again failed to predict eating disorder symptoms when rumination (Balternate = 1.049, SE = 0.718, CI [−0.358, 2.456]), catastrophizing (Balternate = 0.662, SE = 0.713, CI [−0.736, 2.060]), or self-blame (Balternate = 0.974, SE = 0.678, CI [−0.355, 2.302]) were considered as predictors

Summary

Introduction

A substantial proportion of college-aged women (38.9%) [1] report subclinical eating disorder symptoms, including attitudinal (preoccupation with eating, shape, and weight concerns) and behavioral (e.g., dietary restraint and excessive exercise) disturbances [1,2] In light of their psychological and physiological repercussions, understanding the risk factors for eating disorders allows us to intervene in potential diagnostic progression from subthreshold to full-threshold symptoms [3]. Given that perfectionism is a nonspecific risk factor that is elevated across multiple psychopathologies [7], some evidence indicates that perfectionism alone fails to sufficiently and independently explain individual differences in eating disorder symptomatology [9,10] and eating-related clinical impairment in young women [11] This calls attention to the importance of examining other risk factors that may augment the impact of perfectionism to confer greater risk for eating disorder symptoms [12]. Building on cognitive-behavioral theories of eating disorders, we sought to delineate specific dimensions of perfectionism and cognitive emotion regulatory strategies that interact to predict eating disorder symptoms

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Discussion

Conclusion