Negative affect and eating psychopathology: the moderator effect of gender

This study examined the moderator role of gender in the relationship between negative affect and eating psychopathology as well as gender differences in these variables.

A community sample of 285 students (61.8% females), aged 13-25, was recruited in middle and high schools and universities. They filled instruments that assess negative affect and eating disordered symptoms (restraint, eating concern, shape concern, weight concern, and global scale).

Females scored higher both in all subscales and the global scale of eating psychopathology. The restraint subscale was the only subscale showing non-significant differences between females and males. Controlling for BMI, moderation analyses revealed that gender moderated the relationship between negative affect and eating psychopathology, except for restraint behavior.

To deal with negative affect, females engage in more cognitive symptoms associated with disordered eating than males, but both endorse equally in eating restraint. These findings suggest that interventions focused on emotion regulation could help to reduce eating disordered symptoms among females and males.

Level V, cross-sectional descriptive study.