Research paper
Burr EK, Dvorak RD, Stevenson BL, Schaefer LM, Wonderlich SA. Ability to tolerate distress moderates the indirect relationship between emotion regulation difficulties and loss-of-control over eating via affective lability. Eating Behaviors. 2021 Dec;43:101561. doi:10.1016/j.eatbeh.2021.101561. PMID: 34517279. PMCID: PMC8629940.
Why we cite it
Models a pathway from emotion-regulation difficulties to loss-of-control eating **via affective lability**, with distress tolerance moderating the first link.
**"Mechanistic" was the wrong word and it was doing real work (corrected 2026-09-02, card SP97Y7).** This is a **cross-sectional structural equation model** — **N = 3,968 university students, self-report questionnaires, one sitting.** **An "indirect effect" in SEM is a statistical decomposition of covariance, not an observed mechanism**, and nothing here was measured over time or manipulated. The authors say so in their own register: *"Findings **suggest** an influence of distress tolerance on the relationship between poor emotion regulation and affective lability, which in turn **may** affect LOCE."* Their evidence base for the constructs is *"**preliminary** evidence indicat[ing] **potential** roles."*
**What a page may take:** that in a large student sample, people who report more difficulty regulating emotion also report more affective lability and more loss-of-control eating, **and that higher distress tolerance goes with a weaker link between the first two.** **It may not say distress tolerance protects against loss-of-control eating**, and it may not present the pathway as a mechanism anyone observed operating. Key finding: distress tolerance attenuates (but does not eliminate) the link between poor emotion regulation and affective lability, which in turn predicts LOCE. Provides the empirical basis for the project's claim that distress tolerance buffers against emotional eating — though the buffering is partial, not complete, and the study is cross-sectional.
DOI: 10.1016/j.eatbeh.2021.101561 · PubMed 34517279 · Publisher