title: Shame aversion and maladaptive eating-related attitudes and behaviors.
abstract: Consistent with affect regulation models of eating-related psychopathology, prior research indicates that trait-like shame and state self-conscious emotion are associated with maladaptive eating-related attitudes/behaviors. The present investigation extended past research on shame and maladaptive eating-related attitudes/behaviors by examining the role of shame aversion - the perception of shame as an especially unwanted and painful emotion - in these attitudes/behaviors over and above shame-proneness, general distress, and experiential avoidance. In 488 female undergraduates, shame aversion was positively associated with dieting, self-perceptions of body shape, awareness of food content, and food preoccupation even after taking into account other possible explanatory variables. Additionally, shame aversion moderated shame-proneness' associations with dieting, awareness of food content, and food preoccupation, such that shame-proneness was positively associated with these attitudes/behaviors only when shame aversion was high. Future directions for research and clinical implications of the present findings are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 603 E. Daniel St., Champaign, IL 61820, USA. Electronic address: manjrek1@illinois.edu.
authors.forename: Eishita
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Manjrekar
authors.forename: Michelle
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Schoenleber
authors.forename: Wenting
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Mu
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001290:Attitude; D001828:Body Image / Q000523:psychology; D004032:Diet / Q000523:psychology; D005247:Feeding Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D012752:Shame; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Affect regulation; Eating behavior; Eating-related attitudes; Shame aversion; Shame-proneness