Testing a Model of Emotion Regulation and Schema-Related Vulnerability in Maladaptive Eating: Evidence from a Four-Arm Longitudinal Study.
Abstract
Maladaptive eating behaviors such as emotional overeating, habitual overeating, and dysfunctional dietary restraint are important targets for prevention research. Psychological models suggest that difficulties in emotion regulation and early maladaptive schemas may contribute to dysregulated eating, yet longitudinal evidence remains limited. This study examined whether theoretically informed intervention contrasts affected maladaptive eating trajectories in young adult women. University women aged 18-35 years participated in a four-arm quasi-experimental study with assessments at baseline (T1), post-intervention (T2), and two follow-up assessments (T3 and T4). Participants were allocated by class groups to emotion regulation training (ER_only), schema-informed training (Schema_only), combined emotion regulation plus schema-informed training (ER_schema), or an active educational control condition. All programs consisted of twelve weekly 90-minute group sessions. Active intervention conditions showed more favorable trajectories than the control condition on primary outcomes. The ER_schema condition showed the strongest and most sustained reductions in emotional overeating, habitual overeating, dietary restraint, total maladaptive eating, and emotion dysregulation. ER_only produced rapid improvements in emotion regulation, whereas the Schema_only condition showed slower improvements. Secondary outcomes were smaller and less consistent. These findings support emotion regulation as a modifiable process associated with maladaptive eating and suggest that integrating self-regulation skills with schema-informed education may enhance intervention durability. Findings are best interpreted as supporting complementary processes rather than intervention efficacy. These results may inform scalable prevention programs for young adult women and contribute to health psychology research on cognitive-emotional vulnerability and self-regulation.