A factor that can yield to eating attitude disorders in university students: Self-esteem

Abstract

Objective

To determine prevalence of eating attitude disorder (EAD) and the effect of self-esteem on EAD in female university students.

Study Design: In this cross-sectional study, female university students were included. The dependent variable was EAD determined by Eating Attitude Test-40. Socio-demographic characteristics, body perception, obesity, self-compassion and self-esteem were independent variables. Logistic regression (LR) models have been established to determine the associated factors of EAD. p < 0.05 was considered significant.

Results: EAD were found in 3.3% (n = 20) of the participants (n = 600). 44.5% had low and medium self-esteem and %13.4 were overweight (body mass index (BMI) ≥ 25.0). According to LR models, after adjusted for age, increased self-esteem score (decreased self-esteem) (OR:1.8, 95%CI:1.063–3.303) and practicing popular diet (OR:12.6, 95%CI:4.439–35.904) increased the risk of EAD significantly.

Conclusion: EAD were less than expected in this group of university students. Self-esteem is an important factor affecting EAD. Students with EAD may be recommended to get psychological support as well as nutritional counseling.

Keywords:

• Anorexia Nervosa
• binge-eating
• eating attitude disorders
• obesity
• self-esteem

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank our senior students Ayşenur Özturan, Betül Karabaş, Burcu Yılmaz and Kübra Kaplan for their valuable contribution to the planning of the research and the data collection process.

Authorship

All the authors declare that, they had substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work and they drafted the work or revised it and approved the final version to be published.

Conflict of interest disclosure

The authors have no conflicts of interest to report. The authors confirm that the research presented in this article met the ethical guidelines, including adherence to the legal requirements, of İzmir and received approval from the Ege University.

Funding

This study was not funded.