predicting disordered eating behaviors in women with overweight and obesity: investigating the role of stigma, shame, guilt, fear of negative evaluation and self-efficacy

Introduction: obesity is a health concern with complex dimensions. this study aimed to investigate the predictive roles of psychological factors, including weight self-stigma, weight- and body-related shame and guilt, eating self-efficacy, and fear of negative appearance evaluation, on disordered eating behaviors in iranian women with overweight and obesity. methods: this descriptive cross-sectional research was carried out in 2020-2021 among 228 iranian women, aged 18 to 70 years, with overweight and obesity who were selected by purposive sampling method. data were collected through online standard questionnaires. spss-23 was used to analyze the data. results: all the predictor variables had significant associations with disordered eating behaviors (p<0.05, p<0.01). in addition, the results of multiple regression analysis showed that eating self-efficacy was a predictor of emotional eating behavior (β = -0.534, p<0.001). additionally, fear of negative appearance evaluation and eating self-efficacy were predictors of external eating behavior (βf = -0.416, βs-e = -0.416, p< 0.001). moreover, weight and body related guilt and eating self-efficacy were predictors of restrained eating behavior (βg = 0.442, βs-e = 0.300, p< 0.001). conclusions: these findings emphasize the importance of psychological variables in obesity. specifically, self-efficacy, fear of negative evaluation, and guilt were important constructs in predicting disordered eating behaviors. thus, in clinical weight loss programs, considering psychological treatments based on strengthening self-efficacy and self-compassion in this group is helpful to improve their healthy eating behaviors.