He Danli, Gilcharan Singh Harvinder Kaur, Alavi Masoumeh, Koo Hui Chin, Fariduddin Muhamad Nur, Wee Lei Hum, Siau Ching Sin
Centre for Health Education and Counselling, School of Foreign Languages, Yibin University, Yibin, China.
Centre for Community Health Studies, Faculty of Health Sciences, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
J Eat Disord. 2025 Jun 5;13(1):104. doi: 10.1186/s40337-025-01287-x.
Female undergraduates are a high-risk population for body image dissatisfaction and eating disorder symptomatology. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of body image dissatisfaction and disordered eating behaviors, as well as to examine the mediating roles of two emotion regulation strategies (cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression) on the relationship between body image dissatisfaction and disordered eating behaviors among female undergraduate students in China.
A total of 1756 Chinese female students, with a mean age of 19.8 years (SD = 1.5), were included in the study. Participants completed an online survey comprising items related to body image dissatisfaction, emotion regulation, and disordered eating behaviors. Covariance-based structural equation modeling (CB-SEM) technique was employed, with the hypothesized parallel mediation model tested using 10,000 bootstrap samples.
More than half of the participants (60.5%, n = 1063) reported body image dissatisfaction and demonstrated high levels of disordered eating behaviors, including uncontrolled eating (52.5%, n = 922), emotional eating (54.0%, n = 948), and cognitive restraint (57.4%, n = 1008). Cognitive reappraisal partially mediated the associations between body image dissatisfaction and uncontrolled eating (b = 0.047, 95% CI [0.035, 0.061]), emotional eating (b = 0.047, 95% CI [0.035, 0.062]), and cognitive restraint (b = 0.040, 95% CI [0.029, 0.055]). Expressive suppression also showed partial mediating effects in these associations: uncontrolled eating (b = 0.055, 95% CI [0.042, 0.072]), emotional eating (b = 0.053, 95% CI [0.040, 0.070]), and cognitive restraint (b = 0.053, 95% CI [0.038, 0.069]). Further, there were direct effects of body image dissatisfaction on uncontrolled eating (b = 0.165, 95% CI [0.125, 0.205]), emotional eating (b = 0.183, 95% CI [0.140, 0.226]), and cognitive restraint (b = 0.196, 95% CI [0.153, 0.240]).
This study found that both cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression partially mediated the relationship between body image dissatisfaction and disordered eating behaviors, underscoring the importance of targeting emotion regulation strategies in prevention and early intervention efforts among Chinese female undergraduates.
女大学生是身体意象不满和饮食失调症状的高危人群。本研究旨在调查身体意象不满和饮食紊乱行为的患病率，并检验两种情绪调节策略（认知重评和表达抑制）在中国女大学生身体意象不满与饮食紊乱行为之间关系中的中介作用。
本研究共纳入1756名中国女学生，平均年龄19.8岁（标准差=1.5）。参与者完成了一项在线调查，其中包括与身体意象不满、情绪调节和饮食紊乱行为相关的项目。采用基于协方差的结构方程模型（CB-SEM）技术，使用10000个自抽样样本对假设的平行中介模型进行检验。
超过一半的参与者（60.5%，n=1063）报告有身体意象不满，并表现出高水平的饮食紊乱行为，包括无节制饮食（52.5%，n=922）、情绪化进食（54.0%，n=948）和认知抑制（57.4%，n=1008）。认知重评部分中介了身体意象不满与无节制饮食（b=0.047，95%CI[0.035，0.061]）、情绪化进食（b=0.047，95%CI[0.035，0.062]）和认知抑制（b=0.040，95%CI[0.029，0.055]）之间的关联。表达抑制在这些关联中也显示出部分中介作用：无节制饮食（b=0.055，95%CI[0.042，0.072]）、情绪化进食（b=0.053，95%CI[0.040，0.070]）和认知抑制（b=0.053，95%CI[0.038，0.069]）。此外，身体意象不满对无节制饮食（b=0.165，95%CI[0.125，0.205]）、情绪化进食（b=0.183，95%CI[0.140，0.226]）和认知抑制（b=0.196，95%CI[0.153，0.240]）有直接影响。
本研究发现，认知重评和表达抑制均部分中介了身体意象不满与饮食紊乱行为之间的关系，强调了在中国女大学生的预防和早期干预工作中针对情绪调节策略的重要性。
