What about males? Exploring sex differences in the relationship between emotion difficulties and eating disorders

Bibliographic Details
Title: What about males? Exploring sex differences in the relationship between emotion difficulties and eating disorders
Authors: L. Vuillier, J. Joseph, M. Greville-Harris, L. May, M. P. Somerville, A. Harrison, R. L. Moseley
Source: Journal of Eating Disorders, Vol 10, Iss 1, Pp 1-16 (2022)
Publisher Information: BMC, 2022.
Publication Year: 2022
Collection: LCC:Psychiatry
Subject Terms: Psychiatry, RC435-571
More Details: Plain English summary While eating disorders (EDs) are more common in females, males also suffer from these conditions and are generally neglected in research around EDs. Difficulty identifying and managing emotions is believed to be important in the development and maintenance of EDs, but as studies have been conducted mostly in females, it is unclear whether this is also true for males. We recruited 1604 participants (631 were males, and 329 were diagnosed with EDs comprising 109 males and 220 females) and compared how males and females processed and regulated their emotions. We found that males with EDs, like their female counterparts, suffered from difficulties identifying and regulating their emotions, though they showed a slightly different profile of difficulties. While difficulties with emotions were associated with ED behaviours in both sexes, difficulties using reappraisal, an emotion regulation strategy where one reinterprets an event from a different perspective, were associated with restraint in females but not in males. This suggests that while interventions to help with emotional functioning could be beneficial for both women and men with EDs, the different emotional profiles of men with EDs must be considered, as interventions targeting particular emotional processes (e.g. reappraisal) may be relevant for women but not men.
Document Type: article
File Description: electronic resource
Language: English
ISSN: 2050-2974
Relation: https://doaj.org/toc/2050-2974
DOI: 10.1186/s40337-022-00715-6
Access URL: https://doaj.org/article/399f1a36e2a74339bada21a3c36c4df9
Accession Number: edsdoj.399f1a36e2a74339bada21a3c36c4df9
Database: Directory of Open Access Journals
More Details
ISSN:20502974
DOI:10.1186/s40337-022-00715-6
Published in:Journal of Eating Disorders
Language:English