• Comparison of early maladaptive schemas and cognitive emotion regulation strategies between obese and normal weight women

Abstract

 

Introduction: Over the past years, due to the lifestyle modifications, obesity has widely been
recognized as a major public health problem which affects societies worldwide. Recently,
evidences have shown that early maladaptive schemas are strongly associated with eating
psychopathology. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate the differences in early
maladaptive schemas and cognitive emotion regulation strategies between obese women
and matched normal weight controls.
Methods: This research is a comparative (analytical), case control study. The cases were
110 obese women selected by random sampling method among those women who referred
to Farhangian clinic in Kashan city. The same number of subjects with normal weight has
also been considered as controls. Data was collected by the use of standard instruments:
questionnaires of early maladaptive schemas questionnaire (Young, 1999), and cognitive
emotion regulation strategies questionnaire (Garnefski & Kraaij, 2001). The data were
analyzed by t-test and SPSS 22 statistical method.
Results: Based on the results, obese women experienced significantly more severe
emotional deprivation, distrust/ misbehavior, and social isolation. Furthermore, adaptive
and maladaptive strategies in cognitive emotion regulation were significantly different
between obese and normal weight women.
Conclusions: According to the results, both early maladaptive schemas and deficits in
cognitive emotion regulation may potentially play roles in psychopathology of obesity.
These findings suggest that applying interventions on early maladaptive schemas and
adaptive emotion regulation strategies could be beneficial in obesity treatment.