Correlation between orthorexia nervosa, self-esteem, perfectionism and attachment among students

Cilj ovog istraživanja bio je ispitati obilježja povezanosti orthoreksije nervoze, novog fenomena koji označava maničnu usmjerenost na zdravu prehranu (Scarff, 2017) sa samopoštovanjem, perfekcionizmom i privrženosti kod studenata i studentica.U istraživanju je sudjelovalo ukupno 230 sudionika od čega je bilo 160 studentica i 70 studenata s Kineziološkog fakulteta te Prehrambeno-biotehnološkog fakulteta Sveučilišta u Zagrebu. Prosječna dob sudionika iznosila je 21 godinu (M=21,69, SD=2,5). Sudionici su ispunili niz upitnika; Upitnik Orthoreksije nervoze (ORTHO-10) koji je nastao prilagodbom originalnog upitnika ORTHO-15 (Donini, Marsili, Graziani, Imbriale i Canella, 2005), Upitnik samopoštovanja kao stanja (Heatherton i Polivy, 1991), Upitnik privrženosti (Griffin i Bartholomew, 1994), te Višedimenzionalni upitnik perfekcionizma (Stoeber, Otto, Pescheck, Becker i Stoll, 2007). Pored navedenog, prikupljeni su podaci o dobi i rodu sudionika te fakultetu na kojem studiraju. Rezultati pokazuju kako postoji statistički značajna razlika između studenata i studentica na podljestvici samopoštovanja vezanog za izgled i socijalnog samopoštovanja pri čemu studenti ostvaruju više prosječne vrijednosti na obje podljestvice te na podljestvici plašljive privrženost na kojoj djevojke ostvaruju više vrijednosti. Značajna razlika nije pronađena na ljestvici orthoreksije nervoze, podljestvicama perfekcionizma i sigurnoj privrženosti. Pronađena je i značajna pozitivna povezanost orthoreksije nervoze i obje podljestvice perfekcionizma dok s drugim podljestvicama nije postojala značajna povezanost. Utvrđena je i statistički značajna razlika između osoba s niskom i visokom tendencijom prema orthoreksiji nervozi na podljestvicama perfekcionizma dok na drugim ljestvicama nije pronađena značajna razlika. Zaključno, orthoreksija nervoza predstavlja složen konstrukt koji pokazuje sličnosti s poremećajima prehrane i opsesivno-kompulzivnim poremećajima, međutim nekonzistentni empirijski nalazi i nedostaci postojećih mjernih instrumenata upućuju na potrebu za daljnjim istraživanjem i boljom operacionalizacijom ovog konstrukta.This paper deals with the study of the correlates of orthorexia nervosa, a new term related to the pathological obsession with healthy eating. The aim of the study was to examine the characteristics of the relationship between orthorexia nervosa and self-esteem, perfectionism and attachment in college students. A total of 230 students participated in the study, of which 160 were female and 70 male students from the Faculty of Kinesiology and the Faculty of Food, Biotechnology and Nutrition, University of Zagreb. The average age of the participants was 21 years (M = 21.69, SD = 2.5). Participants completed a series of questionnaires; The Orthorexia Nervosa Questionnaire (ORTHO-10) resulting from the adaptation of the original ORTHO-15 questionnaire (Donini, Marsili, Graziani, Imbriale, & Canella, 2005), then the State Self-esteem Questionnaire (Heatherton and Polivy, 1991), the Relationship Scales Questionnaire (Griffin and Bartholomew, 1994) and the Multidimensional Questionnaire of Perfectionism (Stoeber, Otto, Pescheck, Becker, & Stoll, 2007). In addition, data about age, gender and faculty at which they are studying were also collected. The results show that there is a statistically significant difference between men and women on subscales of appearance and performance self-esteem on which men achieved higher average values and on fearful attachment subscale on which women achieved higher values. A significant difference wasn't found on the scale of orthorexia nervosa, subscales of perfectionism and secure attachment. There was also a significant positive correlation between orthorexia nervosa and both subscales of perfectionism, while no significant correlation was found with other subscales. There was also a statistically significant difference between students with low and high tendency for orthorexia nervosa on both subscales of perfectionism while on other scales there was no significant difference found. Finally, orthorexia nervosa is a complex construct with similarities to eating disorders and obsessive-compulsive disorders. However, inconsistent empirical findings and shortcomings of existing measurement instruments suggest the need for further research and better operationalization of this complex phenomenon