Adverse childhood experiences, adult emotional eating, and the role of self-compassion
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6005585 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Asher E Hong (Drexel University, corresponding author), Marny M Ehmann (0000-0003-2834-8095, Drexel University), Christina Chwyl (0000-0002-9257-6650, Drexel University), Charlotte J Hagerman (0000-0002-9386-8444, Drexel University) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 57 |
| Pages | 101978 |
| Publication date | 2025-04-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Eating Behaviors (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1471-0153 • E-ISSN: 1873-7358 |
| Publisher | Elsevier BV (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1016/j.eatbeh.2025.101978 |
| PMID | 40233606 |
| OpenAlex | W4409290635 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
| References cited | 61 |
Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are risk factors for the development of a range of physical and mental health problems throughout the lifetime, including emotional eating. Though the negative effects of ACEs are well established, research on protective factors that may mitigate these effects is limited. Self-compassion, which involves treating oneself kindly during challenges, is linked to greater emotional resilience and better emotion regulation. This study examined if ACEs were associated with adult emotional eating and how self-compassion affected this relationship. Adult participants (N = 98) were recruited nationally and completed self-report measures as part of a larger study on self-compassion, distress tolerance, and health belief change. Participants who passed attention check questions and completed optional measures of ACEs and emotional eating were included in the current sample. ACE scores were dichotomized into high (≥4) and low (<4). Multiple linear regressions examined interactions between variables, and mediation analyses explored self-compassion's indirect effects on the ACEs-emotional eating relationship. When controlling for age and socioeconomic status, high ACEs predicted greater propensity for emotional eating. Contrary to hypotheses, self-compassion did not moderate the ACEs-emotional eating relationship, but lower levels of self-compassion emerged as a significant mediator. Findings suggest that higher ACEs may be related to greater adult emotional eating through reduced self-compassion. Results are limited by potential recall bias, reliance on self-report measures, and the cross-sectional nature of the study. Future work should test interventions that enhance self-compassion to reduce emotional eating in adults with ACEs
Adverse Childhood Experiences · Compassion · Developmental psychology · Eating behavior · Emotional eating · Mental health · Mindfulness · Obesity · Psychotherapist · Self-compassion · Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development · Clinical Psychology · Eating Disorders and Behaviors · Medicine · Psychological Well-being and Life Satisfaction · Psychology
Prevalence of Adverse Childhood Experiences Among U.S. Adults — Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, 2011–2020
Pathways from childhood abuse and other adversities to adult health risks
Self-Compassion
Data quality in online human-subjects research
The Association of Emotional Eating with Overweight/Obesity, Depression, Anxiety/Stress, and Dietary Patterns
The origins and nature of compassion focused therapy
Mechanisms of Change in the Relationship between Self‐Compassion, Emotion Regulation, and Mental Health
Adverse Childhood Experiences and the Consequences on Neurobiological, Psychosocial, and Somatic Conditions Across the Lifespan
Childhood Maltreatment, Emotional Dysregulation, and Psychiatric Comorbidities
Adverse childhood experiences and associated health outcomes
Early-Life Adversity and Physical and Emotional Health Across the Lifespan
Socioeconomic Status and Psychological Well-Being
The Self-Compassion Scale is a Valid and Theoretically Coherent Measure of Self-Compassion
Emotional Eating and Weight in Adults
Evaluating CloudResearch’s Approved Group as a solution for problematic data quality on MTurk
The effect of multiple adverse childhood experiences on health
Relationship of Childhood Abuse and Household Dysfunction to Many of the Leading Causes of Death in Adults
Relationship of subjective and objective social status with psychological and physiological functioning
Childhood trauma and violent behavior in adolescents are differentially related to cognitive-emotional deficits
Perfectionism in Adolescence
Childhood traumas and emotional eating
Relationship between adverse childhood experiences and anxiety symptoms among Chinese adolescents
Does Subjective Social Status Predict Health and Change in Health Status Better Than Objective Status
The ability to regulate emotion is associated with greater well-being, income, and socioeconomic status
Examining individual social status using the MacArthur Scale of Subjective Social Status
Adverse Childhood Experiences and Chronic Diseases
Eating-to-Cope Motives and Uncontrolled Eating as Mediators Between Negative Emotional States and Food Addiction Among Argentinean Young Adults
Resisting self-compassion
The association between objective and subjective socioeconomic status and subjective well-being
Validity of adult retrospective reports of adverse childhood experiences
Positive and negative emotional eating have different associations with overeating and binge eating
The mediating role of emotion dysregulation and depression on the relationship between childhood trauma exposure and emotional eating
Childhood trauma and disordered eating
Adverse childhood experiences and life opportunities
Self-Compassion
| Unique citing works | 2 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 2 |
| Citation span | 2026 - 2026 (1) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 2 |