Verbal Weight‐Related Abuse and Binge Eating Behavior: The Mediating Role of Attentional Bias to Threat Cues and Difficulties in Emotion Regulation

Abstract

ABSTRACT Introduction Previous studies investigated the impact of weight‐related abuse (WRA) on eating pathology. However, the circumstances of such an effect are still unclear. Our study aimed to examine the relationship between verbal WRA and binge eating (BE) behavior via attentional bias (AB) to threat cues and difficulties in emotion regulation. Method We conducted a parallel mediation model. On the basis of the purposive sampling method, 183 individuals with obesity and overweight (70.5% female and 28.4% male; Meanage = 32.78), from February to June 2019, were recruited from a nutrition clinic in Tehran. The participants completed the BE scale (BES), the weight‐related abuse questionnaire (WRAQ), the difficulties in emotion regulation scale (DERS), and the dot probe task (DPT). Results AB to threat cues had a significantly negative association with verbal WRA and BE. Difficulties in emotion regulation showed a significant positive association with verbal WRA and BE. The parallel mediation model showed a direct effect of verbal WRA on BE. Moreover, the bootstrap analysis revealed that difficulties in emotion regulation could mediate the association between verbal WRA and BE. Conclusions Our findings suggest that experiences of verbal WRA can contribute to cognitive bias to negative emotion, maladaptive emotion regulation strategies, and behavioral problems like BE.

Keywords

• attentional bias to threat cues
• binge eating behavior
• difficulties in emotion regulation
• verbal weight‐related abuse