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Safe and Sound: Is Safeness a Specific Affective Dimension Related to Eating Disorder Behaviors?
Ege Bicaker1, Alexia E Miller1, Vittoria Trolio1
1Department of Psychology, McGill University, Montreal, Québec, Canada.
The International Journal of Eating Disorders
|May 1, 2026
Summary
Safeness, a distinct emotional state, uniquely predicts eating disorders. While not directly preventing behaviors, it improves after binge-eating episodes, suggesting a role in their maintenance and potential treatment targets.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Clinical Psychology
- Affective Science
Background:
- Safeness is a unique emotional state associated with positive affect and close relationships.
- It is distinct from other positive or negative emotions and predicts mental health.
- Its specific role in eating disorders requires further investigation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the unique role of safeness in relation to eating disorder symptoms.
- To determine if safeness predicts the presence of an eating disorder.
- To explore the real-time relationship between safeness and eating disorder behaviors.
Main Methods:
- Employed a two-week ecological momentary assessment (EMA) design.
- Recruited participants with diagnosed eating disorders (n=164) and a control group (n=49).
- Measured daily affect and eating disorder symptoms via EMA.
Main Results:
- Safeness was identified as an emotional state distinct from negative and positive affect in women with eating disorders.
- Safeness predicted the presence versus absence of an eating disorder diagnosis.
- Safeness did not predict real-time eating disorder behaviors when controlling for other emotions; however, binge-eating episodes improved safeness in subsequent hours.
Conclusions:
- Safeness may play a unique role in the maintenance of binge-eating episodes.
- Interventions targeting safeness could be beneficial for eating disorder treatment.
- Further research is needed to replicate these findings and explore therapeutic applications.
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