Emotion dysregulation as a mechanism through which parental magnification of sadness increases risk for binge eating and limited control of eating behaviors

The present study examined whether emotion dysregulation mediates the relation between parent responses to emotion and disordered eating behaviors (e.g., binge eating and compensatory actions). One hundred eighteen college students (48% racial/ethnic minority; mean age  =  21) reported on their current difficulties regulating emotions, current disordered eating behaviors, and perceptions of their parents' responses to their emotions when they were growing up. Five parental response types to two emotions and three types of disordered eating behaviors (i.e., binge eating, compensatory actions, and lack of control) were assessed. Difficulties regulating emotion partially mediated the relation of parental magnification of sadness (i.e., matching with greater intensity) to binge eating and limited control of eating behaviors. This study identified a specific parenting practice which may contribute to the development of disordered eating behaviors and a potential mechanism to explain this relation. These findings also highlight family emotion-related processes as important for better understanding disordered eating behaviors.