Gender Differences in the Relation Between Suicidal Risk and Body Dissatisfaction Among Bariatric Surgery Patients: A Cross-Lagged Analysis

Objectives: This study aimed to develop a gender-specific model to understand the causal relationship between body image dissatisfaction, emotional eating, and suicide risk among bariatric surgery patients. A secondary objective was to evaluate gender differences in the associations between these variables. It was hypothesized that, independent of objective weight loss, body dissatisfaction and emotional eating would lead to increased suicide risk. Methods: A total of 109 participants completed self-report measures of suicidal ideation, body image dissatisfaction, and emotional eating before and after bariatric surgery. Results: Cross-lagged analysis indicated that pre-surgery suicide ideation significantly predicts body dissatisfaction primarily among men, independent of the extent of weight loss. High levels of pre-surgery suicide risk correlated with post-surgery body image dissatisfaction in men. The autoregressive effect of suicide ideation was stronger than that of body dissatisfaction for both genders; however, the latter was stronger among women, indicating that past dissatisfaction levels significantly influenced future dissatisfaction. Conclusions: The complex interplay between gender, body dissatisfaction, emotional eating, and suicide risk warrants further research.