Project Details
Projekt
The impact of self-regulation and stigmatization on weight and binge eating/ binge eating disorder in the developmental trajectory from middle childhood to emerging adulthood
Applicant
Professorin Dr. Petra Warschburger
Subject Area
Personality Psychology, Clinical and Medical Psychology, Methodology
Developmental and Educational Psychology
Developmental and Educational Psychology
Term
since 2021
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 426314138
Obesity and binge eating (BE) are serious and highly prevalent health problems that increase or clinically manifest (BE as Binge Eating Disorder [BED]) during adolescence and emerging adulthood (EA). Self-regulation ([SR], the competence to control one’s emotions, cognitions, physiological reactions, and behavior to reach long-term goals) plays a significant role in both clinical conditions. SR is a complex and dynamic construct. Currently, prospective evidence accounting for the manifold SR sub-facets (e.g., inhibition, emotion regulation, planning, etc.) and their differential relevance within the dynamic stage of SR development from childhood until EA is missing. Alongside of the so-called general SR, research increasingly discusses the role of eating-specific SR. However, current research on this field is still in its early stages and urgently requires a conceptual clarification of the discrimination with and its association to general SR. Additionally, the experience of stigmatization (e.g., teasing) and the internalization of social stigmata are being discussed as significant risk factors for both clinical conditions. Current models postulate that weight-related stigmatization and its internalization contribute to weight gain and BE via, inter alia, reduced self-regulation. Therefore, the project focuses on a detailed analysis of the mechanisms underlying the interaction between stigma, SR (as a central mediating resource), and (the development of) weight status and BE during the transition of childhood to EA. The survey of the second funding period is based on the existing longitudinal data set of the PIERYYOUTH study with four measurement points over a timespan of more than 13 years. In the second funding period, the emerging adults, now aged 19 to 24 years, will participate once again in comprehensive tests and questionnaires. This approach allows us to examine which general and eating-specific SR skills have a long-term effect on weight status and BE/BED in EA, whether differential associations exist for weight and BE/BED, possible bidirectional associations of SR with weight and BE/BED, and whether stigmatization, mediated by SR, affects weight and BE during EA. A 14-day experience sampling approach will be used to examine associations between stigmatization, state SR, and eating behavior, taking trait levels of SR into account. The simultaneous observation of weight- and eating-related disorders can contribute to the evidence-based development of prevention approaches and interventions for multiple disorders.
DFG Programme
Research Units
