A cross sectional investigation of the relationship between mindfulness, emotion regulation and eating disorder symptoms amongst female university students

Recently it has been established that individuals with eating disorders have difficulties regulating their emotions and have low levels of mindfulness. The current study has employed undergraduate female participants (N = 119) with no prior diagnosis of an eating disorder in order to explore the relationship between mindfulness, emotion regulation and eating disorder symptoms in a non-clinical setting. The aim of this research is to increase the understanding of how these psychological constructs are possible risk factors for young female students in developing anorexia nervosa. Participants completed a cross sectional survey which included the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire – Short form (FFMQ-SF), the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS) and the Eating Disorder Inventory-3 (EDI-3). Results indicate how individuals with more symptoms typical of eating disorders had lower levels of mindfulness and greater difficulties regulating their emotions. The relationship between mindfulness and eating disorders was found to be mediated by emotion regulation. This research emphasises the importance of understanding the psychological aspects of eating disorders as it has been demonstrated that low mindfulness and poor emotion regulation could be possible risk factors in developing an eating disorder. Further research is warranted to explore this using a prospective design