ABSTRACT
Objective:To explore the mediating effect of experiential avoidance and emotional eating between intolerable uncertainty and life satisfaction of college students.Methods:From October to December 2021, a total of 890 college students in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region were tested by the intolerable uncertainty scale (simplified version), the acceptance action scale second edition, the Dutch eating behavior questionnaire and the life satisfaction scale. All data processing and analysis were preformed by SPSS 22.0 software, and the mediating effect was tested by Pearson correlation analysis and Bootstrap analysis.Results:The intolerable uncertainty score was (26.43±7.64), the experiential avoidance score was (22.63±9.67), the emotional eating score was (26.43 ±11.83), and the life satisfaction score was (16.74±6.03). Intolerable uncertainty was significantly and negatively correlated with life satisfaction( r=-0.76, P<0.01), and was significantly and positively correlated with experience avoidance and emotional eating( r=0.66, 0.78, both P<0.01). Experience avoidance was significantly and positively correlated with emotional eating( r=0.70, P<0.01), and was significantly and negatively correlated with life satisfaction( r=-0.62, P<0.01). Emotional eating was significantly and negatively correlated with life satisfaction( r=-0.68, P<0.01). Intolerable uncertainty affects life satisfaction through four paths.The direct effect value of intolerable uncertainty on life satisfaction was -0.53, accounting for 70.23% of the total effect. The separate mediating effect value of experience avoidance was -0.11, accounting for 50.00% of the total indirect effect.The separate mediating effect value of emotional eating was -0.08, accounting for 36.36% of the total indirect effect, and the chain mediating effect value of experience avoidance and emotional eating was -0.03, accounting for 13.64% of the total indirect effect. Conclusion:Intolerable uncertainty can directly affect life satisfaction of college students and indirectly through experiencing avoidance and emotional eating.