The proposed studies are designed to rigorously test a theoretical model that examines the specific relation between negative affect and bulimic pathology?. Though there are numerous putative risk factors for bulimic symptoms, the role of negative affect has received relative little attention. The Affect Regulation Expectancy Model posits that negative affect increases the risk for numerous pathologic outcomes. The proposed series of studies will examine in detail one possible pathway of this model, whether negative affect acts as a risk factor for eating pathology. However, it is hypothesized that each pathway is moderated by affect regulation expectancies; in the case of eating pathology, the belief that eating improves affect moderates the relation between negative affect and bulimic pathology.
Aim 1 is to test whether eating expectancy potentiates the prospective rl4eation between negative affect and growth in bulimic pathology in an extant data set.
Aim 2 is to test whether confluence of negative affect and affect regulation expectancies predict maintenance versus remission of bulimic symptoms over time in an ongoing study.
Aim 3 is to test whether a randomized experiment manipulating negative affect has an effect on bulimic pathology and whether eating expectancies potentiate this effect. Through the methodological triangulation garnered via this series of studies, the model will be rigorously tested. If supported, the model will have important implications for the prevention and treatment of bulimic pathology.
