Momentary predictors and moderators of eating disorder behaviors and self-harm

Sanford Research North, Fargo ND

Investigators

Linked publications, trials & patents

Abstract

People with eating disorders (EDs) evidence significantly elevated rates of nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI), and people who engage in NSSI evidence significantly elevated rates of ED behaviors. However, nuanced understanding of momentary processes underlying this co-occurrence is limited, as the majority of research has focused on descriptive understanding and identifying distal overlapping risk factors that account for this co-occurrence. The present project will address this gap in the literature by examining momentary predictors and moderators of both ED and NSSI behaviors among people who engage in both. Furthermore, we will use a novel application of the ideation-to-action framework and examine the relationship between urges to engage in these behaviors and subsequent actual engagement in them. Specifically, we will test whether negative affect predicts urges to engage in ED and NSSI behaviors, and whether the relationship between affect and urges is particularly strong when an individual is also experiencing high levels of self-hate. We will then model the associations between urges and behavior, and the extent to which this relationship is dependent on social context (i.e., being alone or with others). We will then compare the relative strength of these momentary processes between ED versus NSSI behaviors. Finally, this study will explore two distal, biobehavioral factors (impulsivity and emotion reactivity to an interpersonal and physical stressor) that might explain between-person differences in susceptibility to these momentary processes. Overall, this project seeks to clarify mechanistic processes underlying the cooccurrence of NSSI and ED behaviors in everyday life, which will in turn inform future theory and research, and ultimately contribute to efforts to reduce the co-occurrence of these serious and potentially lifethreatening problems.