The role of body-esteem in academic functioning problems associated with eating disturbances

Abstract

Objective

To explore the role of body-esteem and self-esteem in the occurrence of academic functioning problems associated with eating disturbances. Participants: 330 university students (aged 16–53 years) in Finland in 2016. Method: Interference with academic functioning measured with the Eating and Body Image Academic Interference Scale. Multivariable logistic regression analyses were performed to describe the relationship of body-esteem, global self-esteem, and age with academic functioning problems associated with eating disturbances. Results: The level of academic functioning problems was low. High appearance-esteem (OR = 0.26; 95% CI [0.14–0.48]) and a five-year increase in age (OR = 0.68; 95% CI [0.52–0.89]) provided protection against academic functioning problems, whereas high evaluations attributed to others about one’s body and appearance increased the odds of such problems (OR = 2.25; 95% CI [1.41–3.59]). Conclusion: Problems in academic functioning may relate to problems in eating behavior, body image, and feelings about appearance.

Keywords:

• Academic functioning
• body-esteem
• body image disturbance
• eating disturbance
• student

Acknowledgements

We acknowledge the University of Turku for providing facilities for the study, and the researchers in COST Action IS1210 Appearance Matters: Tackling the Physical and Psychosocial Consequences of Dissatisfaction with Appearance for providing research networking within the field. In addition, we would like to acknowledge Ms. Leigh Ann Lindholm for providing linguistic assistance during the preparation of the manuscript. Furthermore, we would like to thank the copyright holders for their kind permission granting the use of the instruments.

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 Finland and received approval from the Institutional Review Board of the University of Turku.