Strenghts and Limitations
There are two limitations in this study. Clinical evaluations by an
experienced clinician could provide more valid information to evaluate
alexithymic features. Also, due to the cross-sectional design of the
study, we could not obtain results regarding the causality.
This study has also some strengths. One of them was larger sample size
compared to similar studies in the literature. In addition, considering
the psychiatric symptoms and factors affecting alexithymia helped us to
better understand the relationship between alexithymia and obesity.
Finally, the predictors of obesity/overweight were examined by
regression analysis.
As a conclusion, obese and overweight adolescents have more alexithymic
properties. These properties have positive associations with overeating
which is triggered by emotional states. But alexithymia is not a
predictor of obesity/overweight. It is shown that problematic eating
behaviors such as restrained and emotional eatings are predictors of
obesity/overweight. While emotional and restrained eatings were more
common in obese and overweight adolescents, responding with overeating
to food related cues was not significantly associated with obesity, but
was related with insuline resistance in obese adolescents. Additionally,
emotional eating was found to be positively associated with alexithymia
and depression / anxiety symptoms and it is concluded that emotional
eating is related with psychological factors.