Abstract

This study investigated whether psychological emptiness mediates the relationship between sensation seeking and binge eating behavior in female college students. We recruited 201 female university students in Korea to complete an online survey. Sensation seeking was assessed using the UPPS-P scale, binge eating behavior with the Binge Eating Scale (BES), and psychological emptiness with the Korean version of the Multidimensional State Emptiness Scale (K-MSES). Correlation and mediation analyses were performed to test the proposed model. Results showed significant positive correlations among sensation seeking, psychological emptiness, and binge eating behavior. Psychological emptiness fully mediated the relationship between sensation seeking and binge eating behavior. Specifically, among the subcomponents of psychological emptiness, only inner emptiness significantly mediated this relationship. These findings suggest that binge eating behavior may develop as a maladaptive coping mechanism for the inner emptiness experienced by individuals with high sensation-seeking tendencies. The study underscores the importance of addressing psychological emptiness in the prevention and intervention of binge eating behaviors among young women.