Connecting Eating Pathology with Risk for Engaging in Suicidal Behavior: The Mediating Role of Experiential Avoidance

Individuals with eating pathology, particularly those with diagnosed eating disorders, are at high risk for suicide. It is less clear whether undiagnosed eating pathology and subsyndromal eating disorders carry the same risk and, if so, what mechanisms may explain why higher levels of eating pathology yield greater risk for engaging in suicidal behaviors. The indirect relationship between disordered eating and risk for suicidal behaviors via facets of experiential avoidance was tested using a multiple-mediator model. The model was tested using bootstrapping estimates of indirect effects in a sample of 218 noncollege student adults (Mage = 32.33, 66.1% women) with a history of suicidal attempt and/or history of nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI). Results revealed that disordered eating indirectly predicted risk for suicidal behaviors, distress aversion (i.e., negative attitudes or dislike of distress), and procrastination (i.e., delaying engagement with distressing activities). Results suggest that targeting experiential avoidance and helping those who have a history of engaging in suicidal behaviors and/or NSSI develop regulation strategies to use during times of distress may be of utmost importance for treatment and prevention of eating pathology.