Body and appearance-related self-conscious emotions, emotional regulation strategies, and disordered eating in adult men

Abstract

Eating disorders (ED) in men are the great unknown. Although several studies have been carried out, it is still understood how men develop these disorders. In this regard, this paper explores the relationship between body and appearance-related self-conscious emotions and ED symptoms and the mediating role of emotional regulation strategies in this association. Participants were 127 (S1) and 163 (S2) adult men who responded to an online questionnaire at two different times and were classified into risk groups (general, high, and low) and healthy groups. Body shame and body guilt were positively related to ED symptoms and maladaptive strategies, whereas they were negatively associated with adaptive strategies. In contrast, authentic and hubristic body pride were negatively associated with ED symptoms (except for authentic body pride in S1), maladaptive strategies such as emotional suppression (S1), psychological withdrawal (S2) and upward social comparison (S2), and positively with adaptive strategies. Likewise, those at risk, compared to the healthy, presented more body shame and body guilt and less hubristic body pride (S2) and used more maladaptive and less adaptive strategies. Finally, maladaptive strategies partially mediated the effect of body shame and body guilt on ED symptoms (in the case of BG also adaptive ones), whereas in the case of the relationship between body pride and ED symptoms, only adaptive strategies and emotional suppression mediated. Our findings show the importance of reducing risk factors (e.g., maladaptive strategies) as well as enhancing protective factors (e.g., adaptive strategies) in prevention and intervention programs.