Abstract

The present study investigated the relationship between emotion regulation variability and disordered eating behavior using ecological momentary assessment (EMA). A total of 70 female undergraduate students participated in the study. They self-reported their eating behavior and reported their emotions and emotion regulation strategies three times a day for seven consecutive days. Emotion regulation variability was defined as the extent to which emotion regulation strategies at each time point were less predictive of emotion regulation strategies at the subsequent time point. Multilevel analyses revealed that low emotion regulation variability and disordered eating behavior were positively related, with previous strategy use predicting current strategy use for certain emotion regulation strategies. The findings suggest the utility of increasing the flexible application of emotion regulation strategies for female young adults demonstrating abnormal eating behavior.