Emotion Regulation and Binge Eating in Youth With Obesity

Loss of control (LOC) while eating (i.e., the sense that one cannot control what or how much one is eating) is prevalent among children and adolescents. LOC eating is associated with a range of physical and psychosocial health impairments, including obesity and the development of partial- and full-syndrome eating disorders. Early identification is thus critical for preventing or minimizing these adverse health outcomes. However, little is known about the development of LOC eating in children and, consequently, there is a paucity of effective interventions. Impairments in emotion regulation appear to be involved in the onset and maintenance of eating pathology in obese samples. To date, emotion regulation in youth with LOC eating problems is poorly understood, and research on underlying neurodevelopmental substrates is virtually nonexistent. The proposed research aims to characterize neurocircuitry involved in emotion regulation among 30 overweight children with LOC eating as compared to 30 overweight and 15 normal-weight controls without LOC. Participants will complete a cognitive reappraisal task whilst situated in an MRI scanner, the purpose of which is to characterize neural activity involved in reappraisal versus an emotion maintenance control condition. The proposed research aims to advance the field's understanding of the nature and correlates of LOC eating in overweight children so as to inform intervention development.