成人女性を対象とした摂食障害患者と健常者における感情調整方略の比較検討

抄録

Previous studies have reported that individuals with eating disorders (EDs) are more likely to use maladaptive emotion regulation strategies (ERS), and therefore less likely adaptive ERS than controls without EDs. However, these prior studies examined the differences in frequencies of ERS between individuals with EDs and those without EDs without controlling for depression and anxiety, which are known to be associated with symptoms of EDs and thus may influence the differences in ERS levels. Therefore, the current study investigated the differences in frequencies of using ERS (including rumination, brooding, reflection, cognitive reappraisal, and emotion suppression) between females with and without EDs, while controlling for depression and anxiety. A total of 2000 female adults (aged 20-59 years) completed a battery of online self-report measures. Analyses of covariance indicated that patients with EDs used ruminative strategies (rumination, brooding, and reflection) more frequently than females without EDs. The effect sizes of these differences were small, whereas the effect sizes regarding levels of depression and anxiety were large. In contrast, regarding cognitive reappraisal and emotion suppression, no significant differences were found between the two groups. These results suggest that higher levels of ruminative thoughts patients with EDs may not be cognitive symptoms stemming from EDs as previously understood, but instead from depressive and anxiety symptomatology.