The indirect effect of emotion regulation on the association between adverse childhood experiences and food addiction

IF 3.8 2区医学 Q1 BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES

Appetite Pub Date : 2026-06-01 Epub Date: 2026-01-16 DOI:10.1016/j.appet.2026.108455

Negin Ghaffari , Christina M. Hassija , Aaron A. Lee

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) have been linked with poorer mental and physical health outcomes among adults, including difficulties with emotion regulation and dysregulated eating behavior. For example, emotional regulation difficulties have been shown to mediate the relationship between childhood trauma and food addiction. Yet, little is known about which types of emotion regulation link ACES to food addiction. The goal of the present study was to examine the role of emotion regulation in the relationship between ACEs and food addiction. Undergraduate college students from a primarily Hispanic-serving institution (N = 110) completed an online survey assessing emotion dysregulation, ACEs, and food addiction. The sample was primarily comprised of Hispanic (77 %) younger adults (M_age = 25.5, SD = 8.7). As predicted, there was a significant positive association between ACEs and food addiction (p < .001) and a positive association between food addiction and emotional dysregulation (p < .001). There was a significant indirect effect of emotional dysregulation in relation to adverse childhood experiences and food addiction. Among the emotion regulation difficulties domains, having limited access to emotion regulation strategies emerged as a significant mechanism in the relationship between adverse childhood experiences and food addiction (p < .001). Deficits in emotion regulation skills may increase the risk of developing food addiction among individuals with a history of ACEs. Emotion regulation strategies in preventative care and treatment may therefore help reduce the risk of food addiction among individuals with a history of childhood adversity.

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情绪调节在不良童年经历与食物成瘾关系中的间接作用。

不良的童年经历（ace）与成年人较差的精神和身体健康结果有关，包括情绪调节困难和饮食行为失调。例如，情绪调节困难已被证明可以调解童年创伤和食物成瘾之间的关系。然而，对于哪些类型的情绪调节将ace与食物成瘾联系起来，我们知之甚少。本研究的目的是探讨情绪调节在ace和食物成瘾之间的关系中的作用。来自一所主要为西班牙裔服务机构的本科生（N = 110）完成了一项评估情绪失调、ace和食物成瘾的在线调查。样本主要由西班牙裔（77%）年轻人组成（Mage = 25.5, SD = 8.7）。正如预测的那样，ace与食物成瘾呈显著正相关（p < 0.001），食物成瘾与情绪失调呈显著正相关（p < 0.001）。情绪失调对儿童不良经历和食物成瘾有显著的间接影响。在情绪调节困难领域中，对情绪调节策略的获取有限是不良童年经历与食物成瘾之间关系的重要机制

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Appetite 医学-行为科学

CiteScore

9.10

自引率

11.10%

发文量

566

审稿时长

13.4 weeks

期刊介绍： Appetite is an international research journal specializing in cultural, social, psychological, sensory and physiological influences on the selection and intake of foods and drinks. It covers normal and disordered eating and drinking and welcomes studies of both human and non-human animal behaviour toward food. Appetite publishes research reports, reviews and commentaries. Thematic special issues appear regularly. From time to time the journal carries abstracts from professional meetings. Submissions to Appetite are expected to be based primarily on observations directly related to the selection and intake of foods and drinks; papers that are primarily focused on topics such as nutrition or obesity will not be considered unless they specifically make a novel scientific contribution to the understanding of appetite in line with the journal's aims and scope.