Peculiarities of Eating Behavior in Women With Varying Levels of Emotional Intelligence

This article presents the fi ndings of a pilot empirical study conducted on a community- based sample of women from the city of Chelyabinsk and the Chelyabinsk region, aged 18 to 49 (N = 30). To identify the characteristics of eating behavior in women with varying levels of emotional intelligence, we used standardized assessment tools: the Mayer- Salovey- Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT), the Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire (DEBQ), the Eating Attitudes Test-26 (EAT-26), and the Stunkard’s Scale. A comparison of the three groups (with low, medium, and high emotional intelligence) revealed a non-linear relationship. The analysis established that the highest risks for disordered eating were characteristic of the group with a medium level of EI. These women exhibited the strongest drive for thinness (p = 0.001), the highest overall risk of eating disorders (p = 0.040), and pronounced external eating behavior (p = 0.009). In contrast, women with high EI demonstrated an adaptive profi le, characterized by conscious control of food intake (restrictive eating, p = 0.003) and low dependence on external cues. The group with low EI was marked by interoceptive incompetence (p = 0.042) and perfectionism (p = 0.023). The obtained data underscore that a medium level of EI may constitute a «vulnerability zone» for the development of maladaptive eating patterns. This is a critical factor to consider when developing diff erentiated psychological programs for prevention and correction.