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Evaluation ViewAttendees 2

Eating Disorders
Session Type:: Symposia

Symposium 57 - Current Directions in the Study of Emotion Regulation and Disordered Eating: Methodology, Underrepresented Populations, and Understudied Constructs

Sunday, November 23, 2025
12:15 PM - 1:45 PM CST
Location: Empire B, Level 2
CE: 1.5

Keywords: Emotion Regulation, Eating, LGBTQ+
Level of Familiarity: Basic to Moderate
Recommended Readings: Denning, D. M., DeFontes, C. G., Lawrence, E., Waite, E. E., & Dixon-Gordon, K. L. (2024). Difficulties in interpersonal regulation of emotion in relation to disordered eating. Eating disorders, 32(2), 140-152.,   Gillikin, L. M., Manasse, S. M., & van Dyk, I. S. (2021). An examination of emotion regulation as a mechanism underlying eating disorder pathology in lesbian, gay, and bisexual individuals. Eating Behaviors, 41, 101508.,   Selby, E. A., Bodell, L. P., & Haynos, A. F. (2024). Positive emotion dysregulation in eating disorders and dysregulated eating behaviors. Frontiers in Psychology, 15, 1437889.,   ,  

Eating disorders have one of the highest mortality rates among mental health diagnoses. One of the major factors contributing to eating disorder symptoms and their severity is emotion regulation difficulties. Emotion regulation has become a burgeoning subfield within eating disorders research, yet, there are still several areas that remain underexplored. Areas for further investigation include potential moderators, emotion regulation in different relationships and over time, difficulties in both positive and negative emotion regulation, and associations with other co-occurring mental health concerns. Expanding the body of research examining the role of emotion regulation difficulties contributing to disordered eating, the proposed symposium will highlight novel research directions regarding different aspects of emotion regulation in relation to eating disorders in a variety of populations, utilizing various methodological approaches.

The collection of studies in this symposium use a mix of cross-sectional and longitudinal data, including dyadic and ecological momentary assessment (EMA) methods. These studies also present data from various populations (e.g., adolescents, college students, sexual and gender minority adults). Our first speaker will present data on the moderating effects of negative and positive urgency on the relations between negative and positive emotion regulation difficulties and disordered eating. Our second speaker will share work concerning the influence of interpersonal emotion regulation on disordered eating in dyads of young women. Our third speaker will present findings from a large study regarding the protective effects of social support on disordered eating through positive and negative emotion regulation difficulties in transgender and gender expansive adults. Our fourth speaker will present data collected via EMA that elucidates the day-to-day associations of emotion regulation difficulties with disordered eating and suicide risk. Our final speaker will present findings from a prospective pathway analysis that examined the effects of internalized stigma on disordered eating through valence-specific emotion regulation difficulties in a sample of sexual minority adults. Our discussant will highlight commonalities across the studies, their respective implications for treatment and prevention, as well as future directions in disordered eating research as it pertains to key mechanisms, such as emotion regulation difficulties. Collectively, this group of work highlights the importance of examining understudied constructs of emotion regulation in relation to disordered eating to better characterize how risk is conferred and who is at risk. This research holds tremendous potential for comprehensively addressing emotion regulation difficulties, broadly defined, through treatment and prevention.

Learning Objectives:

At the end of this session, the learner will be able to:
  1. Describe the relation between understudied emotion regulation constructs in relation to disordered eating.
  2. Discuss the effects of other emotional processes that may increase risk for emotion regulation difficulties and eating disorders.
  3. Identify key subpopulations that may be at risk for emotion regulation difficulties and disordered eating.

Presentations:

  • 12:20 PM - 12:37 PM CST
    (SYM 57) Examining the Prospective Effects of Internalized Sexual Minority Stigma on Disordered Eating Through Valence-specific Emotion Regulation Difficulties

    Speaker: Dominic M. Denning, B.A. (he/him/his) – University of Massachusetts Amherst

  • 12:37 PM - 12:54 PM CST
    (SYM 57) Perceived Co-regulation of Negative Emotions and Eating Disorder Psychopathology

    Speaker: Maegan Nation, B.S. (she/her/hers) – University of Nevada, Las Vegas

    Co-author: Maegan Nation, B.S. (she/her/hers) – University of Nevada, Las Vegas

    Co-author: Dominic M. Denning, B.A. (he/him/his) – University of Massachusetts Amherst

    Co-author: Kara Christensen Pacella, Ph.D. (she/her/hers) – University of Nevada, Las Vegas

  • 12:54 PM - 1:11 PM CST
    (SYM 57) The Moderating Role of Valence-specific Urgency Between Emotion Regulation Difficulties with Disordered Eating in a Clinically Elevated Sample of College Students

    Speaker: Connie O. Maeker, M.A. (she/her/hers) – University of Massachusetts Amherst

    Co-author: Dominic M. Denning, B.A. (he/him/his) – University of Massachusetts Amherst

    Co-author: Lauren E. Harnedy, M.S. – Rutgers University

    Co-author: Katherine L. Dixon-Gordon, Ph.D. (she/her/hers) – University of Massachusetts Amherst

  • 1:11 PM - 1:28 PM CST
    (SYM 57) Disordered Eating and Emotion Dysregulation in Relation to Real-time Suicidal Ideation Among Adolescents

    Speaker: Lauren E. Harnedy, M.S. – Rutgers University

    Co-author: Dominic M. Denning, B.A. (he/him/his) – University of Massachusetts Amherst

    Co-author: Valerie Z. Wong, M.S. (she/her/hers) – Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

    Co-author: Ziva Davis, Research Assistant (she/her/hers) – Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

    Co-author: Vaishnavi Raman, None – Rutgers University

    Co-author: Katherine L. Dixon-Gordon, Ph.D. (she/her/hers) – University of Massachusetts Amherst

    Co-author: Jessica L. Hamilton, Ph.D. (she/her/hers) – Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

  • 1:28 PM - 1:45 PM CST
    (SYM 57) The Prospective Effects of Social Support Through Emotion Regulation on Disordered Eating in Gender Diverse Adults

    Speaker: Jennifer Finkelstein, B.A., M.S. (she/they) – Auburn University

    Co-author: Dominic M. Denning, B.A. (he/him/his) – University of Massachusetts Amherst

    Co-author: Tiffany A. Brown, Ph.D. (she/her/hers) – Auburn University