Investigating the Role of Resilience as a Moderator of the Relationship Between Trauma and Disordered Eating Symptoms

Traumatic life experiences (TLEs) increase the risk of negative health outcomes and psychiatric conditions including eating disorders (EDs). EDs are disorders that capture disturbances in eating and eating-related behaviours and are often comorbid with other pathologies. TLEs have been linked to ED symptomology in nonclinical undergraduate samples. This study investigates if multi system resilience is associated with a lower level of ED symptoms. Participants completed an online questionnaire study. Data were collected for measures of TLEs, resilience, and disordered eating symptoms. Measures of anxiety, depressed mood, and dieting behaviours were also administered. Resilience did not significantly moderate the relationship between TLEs and disordered eating symptoms. Results suggest that dieting behaviour is the most important factor related to disordered eating symptoms, and that sexual trauma is particularly predictive of ED symptomology. Implications are discussed in the context of a nonclinical sample. Limitations of this study and future directions are also presented.