Emotions and eating behaviour: the role of emotion regulation and interoceptive awareness in maladaptive eating behaviours

Težave na področju hranjenja zajemajo cel spekter vedenj, doživljanj in kognicij, ki jih skupno imenujemo neprilagojeni vzorci hranjenja. Namen naše naloge je bil preučiti odnose med neprilagojenimi vzorci hranjenja, regulacijo čustev ter interoceptivnim zavedanjem. Dodatno smo preverili še vlogo spola ter indeksa telesne mase (ITM). Na 228-ih udeležencih smo ugotovili pozitivne povezave med zaskrbljenostjo s hranjenjem in telesom, čustvenim hranjenjem ter omejevanjem hranjenja. Čustvena disregulacija je bila pozitivni napovednik zaskrbljenosti s hranjenjem in telesom in čustvenega hranjenja, interoceptivno zavedanje pa je bilo negativni napovednik zaskrbljenosti s hranjenjem in telesom. Ugotovili smo tudi, da ženske poročajo o več neprilagojenih vzorcih hranjenja kot moški, isto velja tudi za posameznike z višjim ITM. Posamezniki z nižjim interoceptivnim zavedanjem poročajo o slabši regulaciji čustev kakor posamezniki z višjim. Ugotovili smo tudi, da čustvena disregulacija mediira odnos med interoceptivnim zavedanjem in neprilagojenimi vzorci hranjenja. Na podlagi izsledkov sklepamo, da osebe s slabšo čustveno regulacijo in zmanjšanim interoceptivnim zavedanjem svojo čustveno stisko regulirajo z manj konstruktivnimi strategijami, kot so neprilagojeni vzorci hranjenja. Slabše interoceptivno zavedanje morebiti doprinaša k težavam v konstrukciji in/ali prepoznavi čustev, kar nadalje otežuje regulacijo le-teh. V prihajajočih raziskavah bi bilo smiselno preučiti vzročno-posledične povezave med konstrukti na reprezentativnejšem vzorcu in vključiti še druge vidike interoceptivnega zavedanja.Difficulties with eating consist of a spectre of behaviours, experiences and cognitions, collectively called maladaptive eating behaviours (MEB). The purpose of this research was to study relationships between MEB, emotion regulation and interoceptive awareness. Additionally, we studied the role of gender and body mass index (BMI). With 228 respondents we found positive correlations between preoccupation with body and eating (PBE), emotional eating and restriction. Emotional disregulation positively predicts PBE and emotional eating, however, interoceptive awareness negatively predicts PBE. Women report more MEB than men, the same stands for people with higher BMI. People with lower interoceptive awareness report worse emotion regulation abilities than people with higher interoceptive awareness. We also found that emotional disregulation mediates the relationship between interoceptive awareness and MEB. Based on findings we can conclude, that individuals with worse emotion regulation abilities and lower interoceptive awareness regulate their emotional distress with less constructive strategies, such as MEB. Lower interoceptive awareness may result in problems with construction and/or recognition of emotions, which results in worse emotion regulation capabilities. Upcoming research should study cause and effect relationships between mentioned constructs in a more representative sample and include other aspects of interoceptive awareness