Early-Life Bullying Victimization and Perpetration and Current Disordered Eating in Chinese Men: An Integrated Theoretical Model

Much remains unknown regarding early-life bullying experiences, body image, and disordered eating in adult men. Using an integrated interpersonal and emotion dysregulation framework, the present study examined whether and how early-life bullying experiences might be related to current disordered eating in a sample of Chinese adult men (N = 500, 18–62 years). Participants completed questionnaires assessing earlylife bullying victimization and perpetration and current emotion dysregulation, interpersonal problems, psychological distress, body fat dissatisfaction, muscularity dissatisfaction, thinness-oriented disordered eating, and muscularity-oriented disordered eating. Results showed that higher early-life bullying victimization was significantly related to higher current thinness-oriented (r =.39, p <.001) and muscularity-oriented disordered eating (r =.36, p <.001). Higher early-life bullying perpetration was also significantly related to higher current thinness-oriented (r =.21, p <.001) and higher current muscularityoriented disordered eating (r =.20, p <.001). Using structural equation modeling, the relationships between early-life bullying experiences and both current thinness- and muscularity-oriented disordered eating could be explained by the integrated theory framework. Present findings extend the existing literature on eating disorder psychopathology by elucidating the potential links between early-life bullying experiences and current disordered eating in adult men.