Peleg Ora, Boniel-Nissim Meyran, Tzischinsky Orna
Max Stern Academic College of Emek Yezreel, Emek Yezreel, Israel.
Front Psychol. 2023 Jan 11;13:1015405. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1015405. eCollection 2022.
Adolescents may feel dissatisfied with their bodies, which may lead to a risk of eating disorders (EDs) due to several factors, with emotional distress being one of the most important. Evidence suggests that family might be one of the most significant factors that may increase or decrease emotional distress. An important family pattern found to contribute to mental and physical health is the differentiation of self (DoS). The primary purpose of the current study was to map the complex relationships between DoS, emotional distress, and EDs among adolescents. We hypothesized that emotional distress would mediate the relationship between DoS and the risk of EDs among adolescents. Moreover, based on findings indicating a higher risk of EDs among females, we expected sex differences in the research indices and the mediation model.
The sample included 194 non-clinical adolescents (mean age 15.15; mean BMI 21.66). Preliminary analyses examined differences between males and females using -tests. In addition, Pearson correlations were run to assess the association between background variables and the study metrics among males and females. To examine the mediation effect, we ran SEM.
Due to a sex moderation effect, two mediation models were run (SEM), one for females and one for males. Results indicated that emotional distress partially mediated the relationships between DoS and the risk of EDs. In addition, sex differences were found in the mediated indices, showing that among female adolescents, perfectionism is the only dimension of EDs that was associated with DoS through the mediation of emotional distress. While the relationship between emotional distress and the risk of EDs is well documented.
It is concluded that high DoS may reduce emotional distress, which may, in turn, decrease the risk of EDs. In addition, the results enable an in-depth understanding of specific risk factors of EDs that characterize each sex.
青少年可能对自己的身体不满意，由于多种因素，这可能导致饮食失调（EDs）的风险，其中情绪困扰是最重要的因素之一。有证据表明，家庭可能是增加或减少情绪困扰的最重要因素之一。一种被发现有助于身心健康的重要家庭模式是自我分化（DoS）。本研究的主要目的是描绘青少年中DoS、情绪困扰和饮食失调之间的复杂关系。我们假设情绪困扰会介导青少年中DoS与饮食失调风险之间的关系。此外，基于研究结果表明女性患饮食失调的风险更高，我们预计在研究指标和中介模型中存在性别差异。
样本包括194名非临床青少年（平均年龄15.15岁；平均体重指数21.66）。初步分析使用t检验检查男性和女性之间的差异。此外，进行Pearson相关性分析以评估背景变量与男性和女性研究指标之间的关联。为了检验中介效应，我们运行了结构方程模型（SEM）。
由于性别调节效应，运行了两个中介模型（SEM），一个针对女性，一个针对男性。结果表明，情绪困扰部分介导了DoS与饮食失调风险之间的关系。此外，在中介指标中发现了性别差异，表明在女性青少年中，完美主义是饮食失调中唯一通过情绪困扰的中介与DoS相关的维度。虽然情绪困扰与饮食失调风险之间的关系已有充分记录。
得出的结论是，高DoS可能会减少情绪困扰，这反过来可能会降低饮食失调的风险。此外，研究结果有助于深入了解每种性别饮食失调的特定风险因素。
