Affect and self-regulation in binge eaters: effects of activating family images.

OBJECTIVE

This study examined the impact of activating internalized family images on affective states and behavioral self-regulation.

METHOD: Sixty-four female binge eaters and normal controls were randomly assigned to family- or neutral-state inductions.

RESULTS

The family induction had a differentially negative impact on binge eaters. When their family images were activated, binge eaters felt more negatively about the experiment, more hostile, experienced greater sensations of hunger, and were more preoccupied with their family images than their counterparts in the other groups. Behaviorally, they also required a relatively greater amount of time to complete a visual-motor task, with a degree of accuracy comparable to that of other subjects.

DISCUSSION: The present findings suggest that for women with eating disorders, the activation of internalized images of their family relationships may produce distress and perhaps problems in behavioral self-regulation as well.