AUTHOR=Wallis Deborah J. , Ridout Nathan 

TITLE=Direct and indirect effects of alexithymia on disordered eating in a non-clinical female sample: Determining the role of negative affect

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychiatry

VOLUME=13

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychiatry/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2022.994024

DOI=10.3389/fpsyt.2022.994024

ISSN=1664-0640

ABSTRACT=<sec><title>Background</title><p>Alexithymia is an independent predictor of symptoms of eating disorders, but also influences disordered eating in clinical samples indirectly <italic>via</italic> negative affect (depression and anxiety). The aim of the current work was to establish if alexithymia predicts disordered eating in a non-clinical sample directly and indirectly (<italic>via</italic> negative affect).</p></sec><sec><title>Methods</title><p>A sample of healthy females (<italic>n</italic> = 248) completed measures of depression, anxiety, alexithymia, and disordered eating (<italic>drive for thinness</italic>, <italic>bulimia</italic>, and <italic>body dissatisfaction</italic>). Bias-corrected bootstrapping was used to conduct parallel mediation analyses to determine if negative affect (depression and anxiety) mediated the influence of alexithymia on disordered eating.</p></sec><sec><title>Results</title><p>The relationship between alexithymia (<italic>difficulty identifying feelings)</italic> and <italic>drive for thinness</italic> was mediated by depression but not anxiety. The link between <italic>difficulty identifying feelings</italic> and <italic>bulimia</italic> was mediated by anxiety but not depression. The correlation between alexithymia (<italic>difficulty describing feelings</italic>) and <italic>body dissatisfaction</italic> was mediated by both depression and anxiety. However, after controlling for negative affect, <italic>difficulty identifying feelings</italic> remained an independent predictor of <italic>drive for thinness</italic>, and <italic>difficulty describing feelings</italic> remained an independent predictor of <italic>body dissatisfaction.</italic></p></sec><sec><title>Conclusion</title><p>Facets of alexithymia (DIF and DDF) directly predict disordered eating in healthy participants as well as indirectly <italic>via</italic> depression and anxiety. These findings suggest that targeted interventions to improve the ability of individuals to identify and describe their feelings could be beneficial in reducing disordered eating, particularly in those “at risk” of developing eating disorders.</p></sec>