Insecure striving as an exacerbator of the toxic effect of shame feelings on disordered eating

Empirical evidence has previously shown the impact of shame and insecure striving on the emergence of eating psychopathology. However, interactions between these variables and the development of pathological eating remain unclear.

The present study aimed at exploring the moderator effect of insecure striving on the relationship between shame and disordered eating, while controlling for BMI effects.

Participants of this study were 458 women from the general population, with a mean age of 30.74 (SD = 12.15) and a mean BMI of 23.14 kg/m² (SD = 3.99), who completed an online investigation protocol. Out of these participants, 7.0% were underweight, 67.9% had a normal weight, 18.8% were overweight and 6.3% were obese.

Results showed that the study variables were positive and significantly intercorrelated. A multiple regression analysis revealed that insecure striving and shame explained 20.5% of disordered eating. The exacerbating role of insecure striving on the relationship between shame and disordered eating was further confirmed through path analysis. The model explained 38% of disordered eating and the plotted graph revealed that, for any level of shame, women who manifested a greater need to strive to avoid inferiority, expressed higher levels of disordered eating, in comparison to those who felt a lower pressure to prove others that they are attractive through the achievement of excellence goals.

These results support the notion that eating psychopathology may be regarded as a striving to avoid inferiority strategy, establishing an important avenue for disordered eating-related investigation and clinical practice.

Level V, cross-sectional descriptive study.