Finding Balance in Emotions and Eating (P.I. Abby L. Braden, Ph.D.) seeks to promote the development and maintenance of emotion regulation skills and healthy eating behaviors among people with eating and weight disorders. We are also interested in advancing basic science on the mechanisms of maladaptive eating behaviors among people with eating and weight disorders, specifically emotional, neurocognitive, and physiological mechanisms.
Broadly, my current research aims to describe biopsychosocial correlates of body image and disordered eating in historically underrepresented and underserved populations (e.g., people from non-Western contexts, people with minoritized identities). Ultimately, my research aims to advance the prevention and treatment of body dissatisfaction and disordered eating.
For more information on my current research projects, please see below:
Finding Balance in Emotions and Eating
Principal Investigator: Abby L. Braden, Ph.D.
- Emotion Dysregulation, Cognitive Control, and Binge Eating Among Adults with Overweight/Obesity
- Ecological Momentary Assessment of Emotional Eating
- Self-Reported Emotional Eating and Disordered Eating: A Meta-Analysis and Psychometric Review
- Perceived Discrimination and Disordered Eating in Middle Eastern and North African Populations: A Meta-Analysis
- Self-Compassion Facets and Eating Pathology
- Mindfulness Facets and Eating Pathology
- Emotional Eating During COVID-19 in College Students
Child & Adult Health Research Group
Principal Investigator: Dara R. Musher-Eizenman, Ph.D.
- Feeding Practices, Disordered Eating, and Mental Health Concerns in Parents and their College-Aged Children
- Picky Eating Facets and Negative Psychological Well-Being
- Extending and Replicating the Tripartite Influence Model of Disordered Eating in Diverse Samples of Men
- Examining Emotion Regulation Difficulties as a Moderator of Relationships Between Negative Emotional Eating Types and Disordered Eating
- Food Selection and Social Desirability
- Dating App Use, Body Image, Disordered Eating, and Weight Bias Internalization
Science of Personality, Addiction, and Religion Throughout Adulthood
Principal Investigator: Joshua B. Grubbs, Ph.D.
- Factors that Reinforce Idealized Male Body Image Relate to Pornography Use, Body Dissatisfaction, Disordered Eating, and Negative Mental Health Concerns in Chinese and United States Gay and Bisexual Men
Research Subcommittee, Diversity Committee
Faculty Advisor: Dryw O. Dworsky, Ph.D.
- Adopting an Intersectional Approach to Body Image, Disordered Eating, and Emotional Eating among Sexual Minority Women and Men
- Emotional Eating, Mindfulness, and Disordered Eating
- Mindfulness Facets, Body Appreciation, and Eating Pathology
- Acculturative Stress and Eating Pathology
- Relations Between Drive for Muscularity and Body Dissatisfaction
LGBTQ+ Student Research Group
Graduate Student Leaders: James S. McGraw, M.A., Jay R. Chinn, M.A.
- #lesbian, #instagay, and #bisexual: Content Analysis of Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Instagram Communities
- Transgender Expression through Media
Diversity in Eating and Weight (DEW) Research Group
Graduate Student Leaders: Wesley R. Barnhart, M.A., Maria A. Kalantzis, M.A.
Collaborator: Jinbo He, Ph.D.
- Examining Body Image and Eating Pathology in Queer Populations: Analyses by Age and Cross-Cultural Status
- Measurement Invariance of Positive Body Image Constructs Across Sexual Minority Chinese and United States Adults
- Validating Eating Pathology Measures for Arab American, Middle Eastern, and North African Populations
Other Research Projects
Clinical Neuropsychology
Collaborator: Melissa T. Buelow, Ph.D.
- Construct Validity of Behavioral Decision Making Tasks: A Systematic Review
LGBTQ+, Cross-Cultural, and General Research on Body Image and Disordered Eating
Collaborator: Jinbo He, Ph.D.
- Perceived Childhood Parenting Styles and Parent-Child Relationship Quality as Correlates of Chinese Adults’ Current Psychological Distress
- Meta-Analysis of Gender Differences in Weight Bias Internalization
- Celebrity Worship, Body Dissatisfaction, and Disordered Eating in Chinese Young Adults
- Bidirectional Relations Between Body Appreciation and Body Dissatisfaction among Chinese Adolescents
- Testing the Pantheoretical Model of Dehumanization in Chinese Transgender Adults
- Longitudinal Network Analysis of Disordered Eating, Problematic Internet Use, and Psychological Distress in Chinese Adolescents
- Exploring Chinese Male Body Image Ideals with Q-Methodology
- Interplay of BMI and Body Image in Chinese Young Adults using Network Analysis
- Body Image and Disordered Eating in Chinese Older Men and Women
- Prospective Associations Between Body Talk and Eating and Body Image Disturbances in Chinese Adults
- Patterns of Negative Emotional Eating and Psychosocial Correlates
- Patterns of Cognitive Functions in Chinese Older Adults and Associations with Demographics, Diet, and Lifestyle
- Disordered Eating, Big-Five Personality Traits, and Psychological Distress
- Picky Eating in Chinese Pregnant Women
- Latent Dietary Patterns and Associations with Cognitive Functions and Psychological and Physical Well-Being in Chinese Older Adults
- Muscularity Teasing and Muscularity-Oriented Eating Pathology in Chinese Adult Men
- Weight Bias Internalization, Psychological Distress, and Food Addiction Symptoms
- Viewpoints of Chinese College Men and Women Towards Women’s Make-Up
LGBTQ+ Health
Collaborators: Harrison D. Angoff, M.A., Nicholas C. Borgogna, M.A., Joshua B. Grubbs, Ph.D., K. Camille Hoagland, M.A.
- Psychological Correlates of Frequency and Enjoyment for Diverse Types of Pornography: Exploratory Analyses by Sex and Sexual Orientation
- Examining Classes of Specific Types of Bullying among LGBQ Youth: Intersectionality with Latent Class Analysis
Biopsychological Correlates of Eating Pathology
Collaborators: Maria A. Kalantzis, B.S., Victoria R. Riesgo, M.A., Abby L. Braden, Ph.D., Jari Willing, Ph.D.
- Examining the Relationship Between Prenatal Testosterone, Binge and Emotional Eating, and Emotion Regulation Skills
Scale Development, Translation, and Validation
Collaborators: Jinbo He, Ph.D., Amy K. Jordan, M.S., Brent A. Stevenor, M.A., Abby L. Braden, Ph.D.
- Positive Emotional Eating Scale
- Examining the Functionality Appreciation Scale in Chinese Adolescents and Adults
- Translation and Validation of the Body Talk Scale in Chinese Adults
- Translation and Validation of the Appearance Schemas Inventory-Revised in Chinese Adults
- Validation of the Muscularity Bias Internalization Scale in Chinese Women
Wesley R. Barnhart, M.A. 