Dipartimento di Psicologia Dinamica e Clinica, Università di Roma "Sapienza", Via degli Apuli, 1, 00185, Rome, Italy.
Dipartimento di Psicologia, Università di Roma "Sapienza", Via dei Marsi, 78, 00185, Rome, Italy.
Eat Weight Disord. 2020 Oct;25(5):1333-1345. doi: 10.1007/s40519-019-00767-9. Epub 2019 Aug 31.
Obesity and overweight are significant risk factors for many serious diseases. Several studies have investigated the relationship between emotional regulation and overweight or obesity in people with eating disorders. Although a few studies have explored alexithymia in individuals with severe obesity without eating disorders, no attention has been paid to individuals with overweight and preclinical form of obesity. This study aims to assess whether overweight and obesity are related to emotional dysregulation and alexithymia.
The study involved 111 undergraduate students who had not been diagnosed with an eating disorder. The sample was divided into two groups according to their body mass index (BMI): normal weight (N = 55) and overweight (N = 56). All of them completed the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20), the Emotional Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ), and the Eating Disorder Inventory-2 (EDI-2).
Results showed higher levels of alexithymia, and specifically higher difficulty in identifying feelings and an externally oriented thought, in participants with overweight. Multiple correlation analysis highlighted the positive relations between some EDI-2 subscales and both alexithymia and emotional regulation scores. Linear regressions revealed a significant relationship between body BMI and both alexithymia and emotional regulation strategies.
The condition of overweight/obesity seems to be associated with higher emotional dysregulation compared to normal weight condition. It is essential to study this relationship because it could represent a risk factor for the worsening of problems related to overeating and excessive body weight. These findings suggest that an integrated approach aimed at considering the promotion of emotional regulation could contribute to the effectiveness of a program designed to reduce overweight and obesity.
Level III: case-control analytic study.
肥胖和超重是许多严重疾病的重要危险因素。已有多项研究调查了情绪调节与饮食障碍患者超重或肥胖之间的关系。虽然有几项研究探讨了非饮食障碍严重肥胖个体的述情障碍，但尚未关注超重和肥胖前期的个体。本研究旨在评估超重和肥胖是否与情绪失调和述情障碍有关。
本研究纳入了 111 名未被诊断为饮食障碍的本科生。根据体重指数（BMI）将样本分为两组：正常体重组（N=55）和超重组（N=56）。所有参与者均完成了多伦多述情量表（TAS-20）、情绪调节问卷（ERQ）和饮食障碍量表-2（EDI-2）。
结果显示，超重组的述情障碍水平更高，特别是在识别情绪和外向思维方面存在困难。多元相关分析强调了 EDI-2 分量表与述情障碍和情绪调节评分之间的正相关关系。线性回归显示，BMI 与述情障碍和情绪调节策略之间存在显著关系。
与正常体重相比，超重/肥胖状态似乎与更高的情绪失调有关。研究这种关系至关重要，因为它可能是与暴饮暴食和体重过度相关问题恶化的风险因素。这些发现表明，考虑促进情绪调节的综合方法可能有助于减少超重和肥胖计划的有效性。
III 级：病例对照分析研究。
