Peláez-Fernández María Angeles, Romero-Mesa Juana, Extremera Natalio
Department of Social Psychology, Social Work, Social Anthropology, and East Asian Studies, Faculty of Psychology, University of Málaga, Málaga, Spain.
Front Psychol. 2021 Aug 18;12:713070. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.713070. eCollection 2021.
Past studies have reported emotional intelligence (EI) as a relevant factor in development and maintenance of eating disorders (ED), as well as in increasing self-esteem and reducing anxiety. Similarly, research has showed that anxiety and self-esteem are positively and negatively associated to ED criteria, respectively. However, no prior studies have yet tested the multiple intervening roles of both self-esteem and anxiety as potential mediators of the association between EI and ED symptomatology. The present study aims to bridge these gaps by testing a sequential path model. Specifically, we examine the potential sequential mediation effects of self-esteem-anxiety on the link between EI and ED. A sample composed of 516 Spanish undergraduate students and community adults completed measures of EI, self-esteem, anxiety, and ED symptomatology. The results show that high levels of EI were positively associated with self-esteem and negatively associated with anxiety and ED symptoms. Anxiety was positively associated to ED symptoms, while self-esteem levels were negatively linked to ED symptoms. Moreover, path analyses showed that self-esteem and anxiety fully mediated the relationship between EI and ED symptoms in sequence. These findings suggest that EI plays a key role in reducing symptomatology of ED through increased self-esteem and reduced anxiety symptoms, providing novel evidence regarding psychological mechanisms through which EI contributes to a reduction of ED symptomatology. Implications for assessing and improving these psychological resources in ED preventive programs are discussed.
过去的研究报告称，情商（EI）是饮食失调（ED）发展和维持的一个相关因素，也是提高自尊和减轻焦虑的一个相关因素。同样，研究表明，焦虑和自尊分别与饮食失调标准呈正相关和负相关。然而，此前尚无研究测试自尊和焦虑作为情商与饮食失调症状之间关联的潜在中介的多重干预作用。本研究旨在通过测试一个序列路径模型来填补这些空白。具体而言，我们检验自尊 - 焦虑对情商与饮食失调之间联系的潜在序列中介效应。一个由516名西班牙本科生和社区成年人组成的样本完成了情商、自尊、焦虑和饮食失调症状的测量。结果表明，高情商与自尊呈正相关，与焦虑和饮食失调症状呈负相关。焦虑与饮食失调症状呈正相关，而自尊水平与饮食失调症状呈负相关。此外，路径分析表明，自尊和焦虑依次完全中介了情商与饮食失调症状之间的关系。这些发现表明，情商通过提高自尊和减轻焦虑症状在减轻饮食失调症状方面发挥关键作用，为情商有助于减轻饮食失调症状的心理机制提供了新的证据。文中还讨论了在饮食失调预防项目中评估和改善这些心理资源的意义。
