The Mediating Role of Mindful Eating in the Relationship Between Difficulties in Emotion Regulation and Emotional Eating

Objective: This study aims to examine the relationships among emotional eating, difficulties in emotion regulation, and mindful eating; specifically, to determine whether mindful eating mediates the relationship between difficulties in emotion regulation and emotional eating. Material and Methods: Data were collected online from 680 participants (83.5% women, 16.5% men). In addition to gathering demographic information, the Emotional Eating Scale (EES-30), Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS-36), and Mindful Eating Scale (MES-30) were administered. The data were analyzed using SPSS 22.0 with independent samples t-tests, ANOVA, Pearson correlation, hierarchical regression analysis, and mediation analysis via the bootstrapping method. Results: Females, smokers, and single individuals showed significantly higher emotional eating compared to males, non-smokers, and married/divorced participants, while no differences were found across education levels. Emotional eating was positively correlated with emotion regulation difficulties (r=0.34, p<0.001) and negatively with mindful eating (r=–0.64, p<0.001). Hierarchical regression showed that emotion regulation difficulties predicted emotional eating (β=0.34, p<0.001), but this effect decreased when mindful eating was included (β=0.17, p<0.001), confirming its partial mediating role (95% CI [–0.02, –0.01]). Conclusion: The results suggest that enhancing mindful eating practices may reduce the tendency of individuals to rely on food as a coping mechanism for emotional fluctuations, thereby helping control emotional eating behaviors. Keywords: Emotional eating, emotional regulation, mindfulness, mindful eating.