Perfectionism and disordered eating in overweight woman

© 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.Introduction: Perfectionism constitutes a risk factor for the development of eating disorders. In overweight women, knowledge about the nature of this association is scarce. Objectives: To investigate the relationship between perfectionism, eating behaviors and affect in overweight women. Methods: The Portuguese versions of the Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire/EDEQ, the Multidimensional Perfectionism Questionnaire and the Profile of Mood States were administered to an outpatient sample of 276 women (mean age = 43.85 ± 11.89 years; mean BMI = 32.82 ± 5.43 kg/m2). Results: Correlations between Socially Prescribed Perfectionism/SPP, EDEQ total (T) and its dimensional scores (Weight and Shape Concern and Dissatisfaction/WSCD, Eating Concern/EC, Dietary Restraint/DR) were significant (r N .30; p N .001). Self-Oriented Perfectionism/SOP was significantly correlated with EDEQ-T, WSCD and DR (r = .20). Participants with high (NM + SD) vs. low (bM-SD) SOP and SPP had significantly higher means in EDEQ-T, WSCD, EC and DR (p b .001). Linear regression showed that SPP was predictor of EDEQ-T and EC (p b .001). Conclusions: SPP and SOP are related to disordered eating in overweight women