Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Identifier

911

Date

2013

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Major

Counseling Psychology

Committee Chair

Owen Richard Lightsey

Committee Member

Sara Bridges

Committee Member

Matthew Martens

Committee Member

Pamela Cogdal

Abstract

Negative urgency, a trait marked by the tendency to react impulsively when experiencing negative affect, has recently been identified as a risk factor for bulimia. Although multiple studies have established a link between urgency and bulimia, few studies have focused on factors that might moderate this relationship. The purpose of the current study was to examine the ability of problem-focused coping, emotion-focused coping, social support, and self-efficacy for regulating negative affect (SERN) to moderate the relationship between negative urgency and bulimic behavior. Web-based assessments of negative urgency, bulimic symptoms, coping, social support, and SERN were completed by 280 female college students. It was hypothesized that the relationship between negative urgency and bulimic behavior would be weaker for women reporting higher versus lower (a) SERN, (b) social support, and (c) task-focused coping, and stronger for women reporting higher emotion-focused coping. Consistent with previous research, urgency significantly predicted bulimic behavior. Emotion-focused coping was also a significant predictor of bulimic behavior. The hypotheses were partially supported: High levels of social support buffered the relationship between urgency and bulimic behavior.

Comments

Data is provided by the student.

Library Comment

Dissertation or thesis originally submitted to the local University of Memphis Electronic Theses & dissertation (ETD) Repository.

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