Role of emotion regulation difficulties as a mediator of the relationship alexithymia and disturbance eating among students

The prevalence of disordered eating behaviors has been reported to increase in recent decades; on the other hand one situation that can impede the regulation of emotions is alexithymia. 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 alexithymia and disordered eating behavior among students. This study was administrated upon 264 students in Tehran. Then, participants responded to the questionnaires and the data were analyzed. The results showed that there was internal significant correlation among emotion regulation difficulties, alexithymia and disordered eating behaviors. Also, regression analysis indicated that emotion regulation difficulties significantly mediated the relationship between alexithymia and disordered eating behaviors . The results supported the hypothesis that emotion regulation would mediate the association between alexithymia and disordered eating. According to the findings of the present study, considering the role of emotion regulation difficulties in the relationship between alexithymia and eating disorders is important for prevention and therapy programs. In terms of practical implication, our findings suggest that prevention programs should focus on alexithymia and difficulties in emotion regulation because the combination of both variables are really strong associated with disordered eating.