Correlates of Disordered Eating Behavior in Female Undergraduates: Development and Validation of a Structural Model

124 p.Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2000.Although disordered eating behaviors are relatively common among female undergraduates, many questions about their etiology remain unanswered. In the current study, structural equation modeling was used to investigate some of the potential mediating relationships among variables previously found to be associated with disordered eating. Results indicated that family conflict, family cohesion, childhood emotional and physical abuse and neglect, alexithymia, and depression were not directly associated with disordered eating behaviors. Rather, these variables were indirectly associated with disordered eating through a series of mediating relationships. Body image preoccupation was found to be directly associated with disordered eating. These results were cross-validated in a second sample of undergraduate women. These data highlight the complexity of disordered eating behaviors and provide future directions for treatment and prevention.U of I OnlyRestricted to the U of I community idenfinitely during batch ingest of legacy ETD