“Trait EI in the relationship between needs fulfilment and symptoms and attitudes associated with EDs”

Eating disorders (EDs) are a set of pathologies, which have been increasing in prevalence in the recent years, suggesting the importance of studying symptoms and attitudes associated with EDs in depth. Several studies have showed that both psychological basic needs and trait emotion intelligence (trait EI) are relevant aspects of EDs, however these two aspects were never tested concurrently. Previous studies have shown that self-determined motivation could be a plausible antecedent that may account for individual variation in trait EI, and for this reason, it seems to be extremely relevant to integrate trait EI in a Self-Determination Theory (SDT) framework. The aim of this study is to test a mediation model of trait EI in the relationship between need fulfilment and eating disorders. In a sample of 159 females aged between 16 and 22 years old (M = 18.71; SD = 1.98) instruments were administered to measure the basic psychological needs, trait EI, and eating disorders. Results of this study showed that need fulfilment was negatively related to eating disorders and positively related to trait EI, whereas trait EI was negatively related to eating disorders. Furthermore, trait EI has shown a mediation role in the relation between basic psychological needs and eating disorders.