Guilt Facets and Eating Disorder Psychopathology: An Exploratory Cross-Sectional Study Using the Moral Orientation Guilt Scale
Abstract
Background: : and Objectives: Moral emotions are increasingly implicated in the maintenance of eating disorders (EDs), yet guilt is less differentiated than shame in the ED literature. Contemporary cognitive accounts distinguish deontological guilt linked to violating internalised moral norms from altruistic guilt linked to empathic concern or perceived harm to others. This study examined associations between guilt facets, ED diagnosis, and ED psychopathology in a clinical sample.
Materials and Methods:: One hundred and eleven adult outpatients (≥18 years) with DSM-5 ED diagnoses (anorexia nervosa, n = 32; bulimia nervosa, n = 24; binge-eating disorder, n = 55; 92 women) were consecutively recruited at first assessment at the Eating Disorders Centre of the University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli” (Naples, Italy) between January and December 2024 and completed the Italian versions of the Moral Orientation Guilt Scale (MOGS) and the Eating Disorder Inventory–2 (EDI-2) at first assessment. Between-diagnosis differences in guilt facets were tested with Kruskal–Wallis analyses. Spearman correlations (two-tailed) examined relationships between MOGS facets and EDI-2 subscales. An exploratory regression tested whether MOGS Empathy predicted EDI-2 Asceticism beyond sex.
Results:: Significant between-diagnosis differences emerged for moral norm violation (p < 0.001), moral dirtiness (p = 0.020), harm (p = 0.021), and both deontological (p = 0.001) and altruistic guilt composites (p =…
How strong is the evidence?
Evidence Hub reads this as a cross-sectional, done in people. Its evidence level is 4 of 5 (Low · observational). Observational designs can show an association but not prove cause. Reported size: 92 participants or records.
Read the paper
Related studies
- The Matrisome: In Silico Definition and In Vivo Characterization by Proteomics of Normal and Tumor Extracellular Matrices
- The Escherichia coli MG1655 in silico metabolic genotype: Its definition, characteristics, and capabilities
- In silico pharmacology for drug discovery: methods for virtual ligand screening and profiling
- In silico prediction of splice-altering single nucleotide variants in the human genome
- In silico clinical trials: how computer simulation will transform the biomedical industry
- In silico optimization of a guava antimicrobial peptide enables combinatorial exploration for peptide design
Go deeper in Evidence Hub
Evidence Hub adds a study data sheet (design, sample size, evidence level, key numbers), an AI summary and a chat grounded in the paper's text.