Disordered eating: what are the potential roles of perfectionism and emotional reactivity?

Perfectionism and emotional reactivity are identified risk factors for disordered eating (DE) in adults and adolescents, yet research in preadolescents is scarce. Further to this, limited research has explored how these risk factors may act together to influence DE. This study investigated the associations between perfectionism, emotional reactivity, and DE in preadolescents, alongside the mediating role of emotional reactivity between perfectionism and DE. Sixty-seven preadolescents (M age = 10.9 years; 52.2% male) self-reported their levels of DE, and self-oriented and socially prescribed perfectionism. Measures of emotional reactivity were collected by observing participant anxiety expressions in response to a stress�inducing laboratory task. Regression analyses revealed that socially prescribed, but not self�oriented perfectionism, significantly explained variance in DE; however, emotional reactivity was not significantly correlated with either perfectionism dimensions or DE. These findings suggest socially prescribed perfectionism may be more broadly associated with DE, whilst self-oriented perfectionism is less influential on DE during preadolescence. Altogether, these findings highlight the value of investigating associations between common risk factors and DE in younger populations to better understand the emergence of eating psychopathology.