The Discriminative Role of Metacognitive Beliefs, Difficulty in Emotion Regulation, and Codependency in Obese Women

 Obesity with its various physical and mental problems threatens public health. This study aimed to investigate the discriminative role of metacognitive beliefs, the difficulty in emotion regulation, and codependency in women with obesity.

 In this causal-comparative research, 40 obese women (BMI ≥30 kg/m2) and 40 normal-weight subjects were selected by convenience sampling method. The samples were evaluated by metacognitive questionnaire, difficulties in emotion regulation scale, and the Farsi version of codependency measurement tool. We used discriminant function analysis to analyze the obtained data.

 All study subjects signed the written consent form. The Research Ethics Committee of Kharazmi University approved this study (Code: IR.KHU.REC.1397.41).

 The discriminant function could correctly classify 95% of obese people and 97.5% of normal-weight people with 3 variables of metacognitive beliefs, difficulty in emotion regulation, and codependency. In other words, 96.25% of all participants had been classified correctly.

 Distinguishing the two groups of obese and normal people, the variables of metacognitive beliefs, difficulty in emotion regulation, and codependency have a significant role. Therefore, these variables are supposedly influential psychological factors in obesity. So they can be used for its prevention and treatment.