The Role of Emotion Regulation Difficulties as a Mediator of the Relationship between Body Image Disturbance and Disordered Eating Behavior

The prevalence of disordered eating behaviors has been reported to increase in recent decades therefore, the search for specific psychological variables that may contribute to the etiology of this disorder is of great importance. The current study examined the mediating role of the emotion regulation difficulties on the relationship between body image disturbance and disordered eating behavior among students. Materials and Methods: This crosssectional study was performed in 2014 upon a sle consisting of 264 students in Allame Tabatabaie University were selected based on a Morgan formula and multistage cluster random sling. Then, participants responded to the questionnaires of emotion regulation difficulties of Gratz and Roemer (2004), The Multidimensional BodySelf Relations Questionnaire (MBSRQ) of Cash (2000) and eating attitudes test of Garner and Garfinkel (1979). The data were analyzed by correlation techniques and multiple regressions.Results: The results showed that there was internal significant correlation among emotion regulation difficulties, body image disturbance and disordered eating behaviors (p 0.01). Conclusion According to the findings of the present study, considering the role of emotion regulation difficulties in the relationship between body image disturbance and eating disorders is important for prevention and therapy programs