The Mediating Role of Emotion Regulation Difficulties in the Relationship Between Eating Attitudes and Depressive Symptoms

ABSTRACT

Emerging adulthood, which coincides with the transition period between late adolescence and early adulthood, is a risky period in the development of psychopathologies due to its developmental characteristics. Emotion regulation difficulties are one of the psychological factors that play a role in the development and maintenance of co-occurring psychopathologies such as depression and eating disorders. The current study, which was conducted during the coronavirus pandemic, it was aimed to examine the mediating role of difficulty in emotion regulation in the relationship between risky eating attitudes and depressive symptoms in emerging adults. The research sample consists of 371 people, 227 women and 144 men, between the ages of 18-25. Beck Depression Inventory, Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale, and Eating Attitudes Test-Short Form were used for data collection. The data were collected online, during the coronavirus pandemic. The results of the simple mediation model test showed that the direct effect of eating attitudes on depression symptoms was not significant, but the indirect effect was. Accordingly, eating attitudes were not directly associated with depressive symptoms, but it leads an increase in depressive symptoms through increasing the emotion regulation difficulties. The effects of gender and body mass index, which were included in the mediation model to control the effect on depression symptoms, were not significant. Findings of the study indicated that risky eating attitudes in emerging adults lead to increase in emotion regulation difficulties, which in turn lead to increase in depressive symptoms. The findings and their clinical implications are discussed in the light of the relevant literature. © 2022 The Author(s).