Drunkorexia and Emotion Regulation and Emotion Regulation Difficulties: The Mediating Effect of Disordered Eating Attitudes

Vanessa Azzi, Souheil Hallit, Diana Malaeb, Sahar Obeid and Anna Brytek-Matera
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Vanessa Azzi: Faculty of Medicine and Medical Sciences, Holy Spirit University of Kaslik (USEK), Jounieh 446, Lebanon
Souheil Hallit: Faculty of Medicine and Medical Sciences, Holy Spirit University of Kaslik (USEK), Jounieh 446, Lebanon
Diana Malaeb: School of Pharmacy, Lebanese International University, Beirut 1083, Lebanon
Sahar Obeid: INSPECT-LB: Institut National de Sante Publique, Epidemiologie Clinique et Toxicologie-Liban, Beirut 6573-14, Lebanon
Anna Brytek-Matera: Institute of Psychology, University of Wroclaw, Dawida 1, 50-527 Wroclaw, Poland

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 5, 1-20

Abstract: Drunorexia refers to food calorie intake restriction to prevent weight gain and the desire to enhance the more extensive intoxicating effects of alcohol. The present study aimed to investigate the association of drunkorexia with emotion regulation as well as emotion regulation difficulties across the Lebanese population, and assess disordered eating attitudes as a potential mediator of these relationships. The cross-sectional study enrolled participants ( n = 258) from all Lebanese districts. The study was performed through an online survey based on a self-designed and structured questionnaire. The Drunkorexia Motives and Behaviors Scales (DMBS), the College Life Alcohol Salience Scale (CLASS), the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS-16), the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ) and the Eating Attitudes Test (EAT-26) were used in the present study. The results showed that higher EAT-26 total scores (more disordered eating attitudes) ( B = 0.16) and higher DERS-16 total score ( B = 0.30) were significantly associated with more drunkorexia motives. Also, higher EAT-26 total scores ( B = 0.09) and higher DERS-16 total score ( B = 0.17) were significantly associated with more drunkorexia behaviors. In addition, higher EAT-26 total scores ( B = 0.10) and higher DERS-26 total score ( B = 0.36) were significantly associated with more drunkorexia fails. Furthermore, higher EAT-26 total scores ( B = 0.07), and higher DERS-16 total score ( B = 0.37) were significantly associated with more drunkorexia during an alcohol consumption event. Higher EAT-26 total scores ( B = 0.09), and higher DERS-16 total score ( B = 0.22) were significantly associated with more post-drinking compensation. Higher EAT-26 total scores ( B = 0.21), higher DERS-16 total scores ( B = 0.65) and higher emotion regulation ( B = 0.33) were significantly associated with higher CLASS scores. The results showed that EAT-26 total scores partially mediated the association between DERS-16 total score and drunkorexia motives (25.20%), between DERS-16 total score and drunkorexia behaviors (25.16%), between DERS-16 total score and drunkorexia fails (106.87%), between DERS-16 total score and drunkorexia during an alcohol consumption event (11.84%), between DERS-16 total score and post-drinking compensation (22.55%), between ERQ total score and college life alcohol salience (8.35%) and between DERS-16 total score and college life alcohol salience (20.14%). This study highlighted that only emotional regulation difficulties were associated with drunkorexia, whereas emotional regulation was not significantly associated with such behavior.

Keywords: drunkorexia; disordered eating attitudes; emotion regulation; emotion regulation difficulties (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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