TY - JOUR
T1 - 'Not good enough:' Exploring self-criticism's role as a mediator between childhood emotional abuse & adult binge eating
AU - Feinson, Marjorie C.
AU - Hornik-Lurie, Tzipi
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2016.
PY - 2016/12/1
Y1 - 2016/12/1
N2 - Empirical studies have identified emotional abuse in childhood (CEA) as a risk factor with long-term implications for psychological problems. Indeed, recent studies indicate it is more prevalent than behavioral forms of abuse, (i.e. childhood sexual and physical abuse) and the childhood trauma most clearly associated with subsequent eating pathology in adulthood. However, relatively little is understood about the mechanisms linking these distal experiences. This study explores three psychological mechanisms - self-criticism (SC), depression and anxiety symptoms - as plausible mediators that may account for the relationship between CEA and binge eating (BE) among adult women. Detailed telephone interviews conducted with a community-based sample of 498 adult women (mean age 44) assess BE, CEA and SC along with the most frequently researched psychological variables, anxiety and depression. Regression analyses reveal that BE is partially explained by CEA along with the three mediators. Bootstrapping analysis, which compares multiple mediators within a single model using thousands of repeated random sampling observations from the data set, reveals a striking finding: SC is the only psychological variable that makes a significant contribution to explaining BE severity. The unique role of punitive self-evaluations vis-à-vis binge eating warrants additional research and, in the interim, that clinicians consider broadening treatment interventions accordingly.
AB - Empirical studies have identified emotional abuse in childhood (CEA) as a risk factor with long-term implications for psychological problems. Indeed, recent studies indicate it is more prevalent than behavioral forms of abuse, (i.e. childhood sexual and physical abuse) and the childhood trauma most clearly associated with subsequent eating pathology in adulthood. However, relatively little is understood about the mechanisms linking these distal experiences. This study explores three psychological mechanisms - self-criticism (SC), depression and anxiety symptoms - as plausible mediators that may account for the relationship between CEA and binge eating (BE) among adult women. Detailed telephone interviews conducted with a community-based sample of 498 adult women (mean age 44) assess BE, CEA and SC along with the most frequently researched psychological variables, anxiety and depression. Regression analyses reveal that BE is partially explained by CEA along with the three mediators. Bootstrapping analysis, which compares multiple mediators within a single model using thousands of repeated random sampling observations from the data set, reveals a striking finding: SC is the only psychological variable that makes a significant contribution to explaining BE severity. The unique role of punitive self-evaluations vis-à-vis binge eating warrants additional research and, in the interim, that clinicians consider broadening treatment interventions accordingly.
KW - Binge eating
KW - Childhood emotional abuse
KW - Self-criticism
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84976389242&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.eatbeh.2016.06.005
DO - 10.1016/j.eatbeh.2016.06.005
M3 - Article
C2 - 27372445
AN - SCOPUS:84976389242
SN - 1471-0153
VL - 23
SP - 1
EP - 6
JO - Eating Behaviors
JF - Eating Behaviors
ER -