Alexithymia and eating disorder symptoms: the mediating role of emotion regulation

ObjectivePreliminary research has found evidence to suggest alexithymia acts as a risk factor for the development of psychopathology symptoms, due to its impairing role on emotion regulation ability. Eating disorder symptoms have been extensively linked to high levels of alexithymia and emotion regulation difficulties, yet little is known about the precise mechanisms behind these interactions. The current study investigates whether emotion regulation difficulties drive the association between alexithymia and eating disorder symptoms.MethodAn online questionnaire battery consisting of psychometric self-report measures was administered to 255 undergraduate students. Measures included the Perth Alexithymia Questionnaire (PAQ), Perth Emotion Regulation Competency Inventory (PERCI), and the Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire (EDE-Q).ResultsA parallel mediation analysis was conducted, finding that the relationship between alexithymia and eating disorder symptoms was partially mediated by difficulties regulating positive emotions.ConclusionsThese findings support contemporary theory, which recognises alexithymia as an important risk factor for psychopathology symptoms due to its impairing effect on emotion regulation ability. These results highlight the importance of considering the relationship between alexithymia and emotion regulation when conceptualising cases and planning eating disorder treatment and prevention measures. What is already known about the topic:The attention-appraisal model posits that alexithymia is associated with emotion-based psychopathology symptoms due to alexithymia's impairing effect on emotion regulation ability.Alexithymia is extensively linked with eating disorders.Emotion regulation difficulties are a transdiagnostic feature among eating disorders.What this topic adds:Difficulty regulating positive emotions appears to drive, at least in part, the relationship between alexithymia and eating disorder symptoms.Our results highlight the importance of considering both alexithymia and emotion regulation when understanding eating disorder symptoms.Alexithymia may interfere with eating disorder treatment due to its detrimental effect on ability to regulate positive emotions.