Presenter(s)
Daisy Trader
Abstract
The research literature suggests that body dissatisfaction may have a relationship with eating disorders (Costantini et al., 2026). Thus, an examination of factors related to body dissatisfaction (BD) could be a helpful avenue for better understanding eating disorders. Research suggests that low self-esteem (SE) and emotional dysregulation (ED) may be relevant factors in this relationship (Brytek-Matera et al., 2021). The current study aimed to examine these relationships to better understand disordered eating in adults. Research suggests that low self-esteem is correlated with body dissatisfaction (Abdoli et al., 2025). For example, Stapleton et al. (2017) found that self-esteem significantly predicted body dissatisfaction in a sample of 222 adult women. Similarly, Cruz-Saez et al. (2018) found a significant negative correlation between SE and BD. Additionally, emotional dysregulation appears to be related to body dissatisfaction. For example, Zainab et al. (2023) found that negative affect, a construct related to emotional dysregulation, was related to body dissatisfaction; while Momeñe et al. (2023) found that BD was significantly correlated to five subscales of an emotional dysregulation measure. In sum, there is evidence that SE and ED may be salient factors in the phenomenon of body dissatisfaction in females. Given the connections between these variables, we also examined emotional dysregulation as a mediating variable in the relationship between SE and BD. Cruz-Sáez et al., (2018) found that negative affect partially mediated the SE-BD relationship. Thus, we predicted that emotional dysregulation would partially mediate this relationship in the current study. Based on past research, we hypothesized the following: H1) self-esteem would be negatively correlated with body dissatisfaction; H2) emotional dysregulation would be positively correlated with body dissatisfaction; and H3) emotional dysregulation would partially mediate the self-esteem-body dissatisfaction relationship.
College
College of Liberal Arts
Department
Psychology
Campus
Winona
First Advisor/Mentor
Robert Casselman
Location
Kryzsko Great River Ballroom, Winona, Minnesota; United States
Start Date
4-23-2026 1:00 PM
End Date
4-23-2026 2:00 PM
Presentation Type
Poster Session
Format of Presentation or Performance
In-Person
Session
2a=1pm-2pm
Poster Number
65
The Relationship Between Emotional Dysregulation, Self-Esteem, and Body Dissatisfaction
Kryzsko Great River Ballroom, Winona, Minnesota; United States
The research literature suggests that body dissatisfaction may have a relationship with eating disorders (Costantini et al., 2026). Thus, an examination of factors related to body dissatisfaction (BD) could be a helpful avenue for better understanding eating disorders. Research suggests that low self-esteem (SE) and emotional dysregulation (ED) may be relevant factors in this relationship (Brytek-Matera et al., 2021). The current study aimed to examine these relationships to better understand disordered eating in adults. Research suggests that low self-esteem is correlated with body dissatisfaction (Abdoli et al., 2025). For example, Stapleton et al. (2017) found that self-esteem significantly predicted body dissatisfaction in a sample of 222 adult women. Similarly, Cruz-Saez et al. (2018) found a significant negative correlation between SE and BD. Additionally, emotional dysregulation appears to be related to body dissatisfaction. For example, Zainab et al. (2023) found that negative affect, a construct related to emotional dysregulation, was related to body dissatisfaction; while Momeñe et al. (2023) found that BD was significantly correlated to five subscales of an emotional dysregulation measure. In sum, there is evidence that SE and ED may be salient factors in the phenomenon of body dissatisfaction in females. Given the connections between these variables, we also examined emotional dysregulation as a mediating variable in the relationship between SE and BD. Cruz-Sáez et al., (2018) found that negative affect partially mediated the SE-BD relationship. Thus, we predicted that emotional dysregulation would partially mediate this relationship in the current study. Based on past research, we hypothesized the following: H1) self-esteem would be negatively correlated with body dissatisfaction; H2) emotional dysregulation would be positively correlated with body dissatisfaction; and H3) emotional dysregulation would partially mediate the self-esteem-body dissatisfaction relationship.
Comments
Trader, Daisy D