Mindfulness attenuates the positive association between disordered eating cognition and disordered eating behavior in a sample of college women

Previous cross-sectional studies have shown that acting with awareness, one of the five facets of mindfulness, buffered the degree of positive association between disordered eating cognition and disordered eating behavior. The present cross-sectional study examined whether other facets of mindfulness moderated the relationship between disordered eating cognition and disordered eating behavior in a nonclinical sample of women. Three hundred and five college undergraduate women (mean age of 20.29 years old) completed self-report measures online that were used for the present study. Results revealed that greater acting with awareness and describing attenuated the positive relationship between disordered eating cognition and disordered eating behavior. Conversely, greater observing was found to amplify the degree of the aforementioned relationship. These findings should be replicated, and future research should also examine the factors that may account for differential findings across facets of mindfulness.