Adverse childhood experiences, adult emotional eating, and the role of self-compassion

Abstract

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are risk factors for the development of a range of physical and mental health problems throughout the lifetime, including emotional eating. Though the negative effects of ACEs are well established, research on protective factors that may mitigate these effects is limited. Self-compassion, which involves treating oneself kindly during challenges, is linked to greater emotional resilience and better emotion regulation. This study examined if ACEs were associated with adult emotional eating and how self-compassion affected this relationship. Adult participants (N = 98) were recruited nationally and completed self-report measures as part of a larger study on self-compassion, distress tolerance, and health belief change. Participants who passed attention check questions and completed optional measures of ACEs and emotional eating were included in the current sample. ACE scores were dichotomized into high (≥4) and low (<4). Multiple linear regressions examined interactions between variables, and mediation analyses explored self-compassion's indirect effects on the ACEs-emotional eating relationship. When controlling for age and socioeconomic status, high ACEs predicted greater propensity for emotional eating. Contrary to hypotheses, self-compassion did not moderate the ACEs-emotional eating relationship, but lower levels of self-compassion emerged as a significant mediator. Findings suggest that higher ACEs may be related to greater adult emotional eating through reduced self-compassion. Results are limited by potential recall bias, reliance on self-report measures, and the cross-sectional nature of the study. Future work should test interventions that enhance self-compassion to reduce emotional eating in adults with ACEs.