Some determinants of emergence of eating disorders' symptoms in female university students

Cilj ovog istraživanja bio je bolje istražiti na koji su način socijalna anksioznost zbog izgleda i očekivanja o interpersonalnim ishodima mršavosti povezani s dijetnim ponašanjem i simptomima poremećaja hranjenja kod studentica koje su u trenutku provođenja istraživanja bile na dijeti. Istraživanje je provedeno online putem, a u obzir su uzeti rezultati 233 sudionice. Kao mjeru socijalne anksioznost zbog izgleda koristili smo Ljestvicu socijalne anksioznosti zbog izgleda (SAAS), kao mjera očekivanja korištena je Ljestvica očekivanja o interpersonalnim ishodima mršavosti (IOET). Upitnik kojim smo odredili jačinu simptoma poremećaja hranjenja je Upitnik navika hranjenja (EAT - 26). Naši rezultati pokazuju da češće držanje dijete upućuje na više razine socijalne anksioznosti, jača očekivanja o interpersonalnim ishodima mršavosti i više simptoma poremećaja hranjenja. Osim toga, one sudionice koje trenutno boluju od nekog poremećaja hranjenja imaju više razine socijalne anksioznosti i jača očekivanja o interpersonalnim ishodima mršavosti. Konačno, pokazalo se da su očekivanja o interpersonalnim ishodima mršavosti medijator veze između socijalne anksioznosti zbog izgleda i simptoma poremećaja hranjenja.The aim of this research was to gain a deeper insight into the relationship between some aspects of social functioning, dieting and disordered eating. We explored how social appearance anxiety and interpersonal outcome expectancies of thinness relate to frequency of dieting and symptoms of eating disorders in female university students who were dieting at the time when study was conducted (N = 233). We used Social appearance anxiety scale (SAAS) to measure social appearance anxiety, Interpersonal outcome expectancies of thinness questionnaire to measure the strength of thinness expectancies and Eating attitudes test (EAT – 26) to assess the presence of eating disorders' symptoms. The results are as follows: frequent dieters experienced higher levels of social appearance anxiety, had stronger thinness expectancies and higher levels of disordered eating. Participants that at the time of the study had a formal eating disorder diagnosis had higher levels of social appearance anxiety and stronger thinness expectancies than those without an eating disorder diagnosis. Thinness expectancies appeared to mediate the relationship between social appearance anxiety and eating disorder symptomatology