Emotional dysregulation, personality traits and eating styles in adolescents: an observational study

Research data demonstrate the role that emotions play in food choices and behaviors by discriminating concepts of physical and emotional hunger. Alexithymia, a disturbance in the cognitive and affective processing of experience, and emotional dysregulation marked by an inability to manage and regulate one's emotions, appear to be associated with unhealthy behaviors, such as those included in Nutrition and Eating Disorders. People affected by subthreshold clinical syndrome may experience emotions as unacceptable or frightening, and use food control as an emotive avoidance or coping strategy. In addition, a greater inclination to be impulsive would be found to be correlated with the construct of emotional eating, for example, the tendency to eat compulsively to reduce the intensity of experienced negative emotions and a particular sensitivity to external stimuli that signal the presence and accessibility of food even when the physiological sensation of hunger is not experienced. The present study is an observational research design aimed at investigating the correlation of personality traits and emotional dysregulation with eating-related behaviors and cognitions in adolescent students of a high school in the city of Foggia. Methods: The sample, consisting of 89 adolescents, predominantly female, from the Notarangelo-Rosati Technical Institute in Foggia, completed a series of self-report questionnaires (TAS 20, DERS, FCQ-T, FCQ-S, BES, FA, BIS-15, EAT-26, TOS, DOS). Results: Consistent with the state of the art that motivated the present observational study design, it is observed scores considerable of impulsiveness, difficulty in recognising, verbalising and managing emotions. The results confirm a positive and significant correlation between difficulty in processing (r= 0.28; p=0.007) and emotional regulation (r= 0.49; p<0.0001) with food-related symptoms. Impulsivity is not significantly associated with dysfunctional eating behaviour. Discussion: Temperament and emotion regulation factors appear to be predictive in the choice of dysfunctional eating behaviour in adolescent. Based on these premises, future studies could evaluate the effectiveness of cognitive-behaviourally oriented group psycho-educational interventions for emotional regulation as a form of prevention against the development of nutrition and eating disorders.