Restrictive eating and nonsuicidal self-injury in a nonclinical sample: Co-occurrence and associations with emotion dysregulation and interpersonal problems
Abstract
Disordered eating frequently co-occurs with nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI), and evidence suggests that the cooccurrence of these behaviors is associated with heightened emotion dysregulation. However, little is known about the relationship between restrictive eating and NSSI, and the significance of their co-occurrence. This study examined cross-sectional associations between self-reported restrictive eating, NSSI, and putative mechanisms of emotion regulation and interpersonal problems in a non-clinical sample of undergraduate students (N = 98, 80.6% female), using the Dietary Restriction Screener (Haynos & Fruzzetti, 2015), Deliberate Self-Harm Inventory (Gratz, 2001), Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (Gratz & Roemer, 2006), and Inventory of Interpersonal Problems-Personality Disorders-25 (Kim & Pilkonis, 1999). Hierarchical logistic regression analyses indicated that restrictive eating was associated with NSSI above and beyond the influence of binge eating, purging, and relevant covariates (B = 2.04, p < 0.001). In addition, multivariate analyses of variance revealed that the co-occurrence of restrictive eating and NSSI was associated with greater difficulties accessing and implementing effective, rather than impulsive, emotion regulation strategies when distressed than either behavior alone (p < 0.001). Findings highlight the seriousness of restrictive eating even within a nonclinical sample, as it is associated with heightened probability of NSSI and clinical…
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