Orthorexia nervosa and self-attitudinal aspects of body image in female and male university students.

The present study was designed to investigate orthorexia nervosa, or the phenomenon of being preoccupied with consuming healthy food. Specific aims were to explore relationships between orthorexia features and attitudes towards body image, fitness and health in normal weight female and male university students with high levels of healthy food preoccupation, i.e. orthorexia nervosa. METHODS Participants were 327 female (N = 283) and male (N = 44) students aged 18 to 25 years. All participants completed the Polish adaptation of the 15-item questionnaire assessing orthorexia eating behaviours (the ORTHO-15) and the Multidimensional Body-Self Relations Questionnaire (the MBSRQ). Relationships between scores on the ORTHO-15 and MBSRQ were explored in the 213 students who had high levels of preoccupation with a healthy food intake (68.55% women and 43.18% men, respectively). RESULTS: There were no statistically significant differences in the levels of orthorexia behaviours between females and males. In female students with orthorexia nervosa, preoccupation with consuming healthy food was significantly correlated with the MBSRQ subscale scores for overweight preoccupation, appearance orientation, fitness orientation, health orientation, body areas satisfaction and appearance evaluation. Conversely, in male students with orthorexia nervosa there were no correlations between orthorexic behaviours and the MBSRQ subscales. In female students with orthorexia nervosa multivariable linear regression analysis found high body areas (parts) satisfaction, low fitness orientation, low overweight preoccupation and low appearance orientation were independent predictors of greater fixation on eating healthy food. In male students, we found that aspects of body image were not associated with preoccupation with healthy eating. CONCLUSION: A strong preoccupation with healthy and proper food was not associated with an unhealthy body-self relationship among Polish female student with orthorexia nervosa

Orthorexia nervosa: relationship with obsessive-compulsive symptoms, disordered eating patterns and body uneasiness among Italian university students

Introduction: The present study aimed to investigate the relationship between ORTO-15 score and obsessive-compulsive symptoms, disordered eating patterns and body uneasiness among female and male university students and to examine the predictive model of ORTO-15 in both groups. Methods: One hundred and twenty students participated in the present study (mean age 22.74 years, SD 7.31). The ORTO-15 test, the Maudsley Obsessive-Compulsive Questionnaire, the Eating Attitudes Test-26 and the Body Uneasiness Test were used for the present study. Results: Our results revealed no gender differences in ORTO-15 score. Our results show, rather unexpectedly, that in female students lower scores, corresponding to greater severity, were related to less pathological body image discomfort and obsessive-compulsive signs, while in male students, lower ORTO-15 scores were related to less pathological eating patterns, as behaviors and symptoms. Conclusion: Further studies regarding the relationship between ON and anorexia nervosa, as well as obsessive-compulsive symptoms, are needed to better understand the causality. Level of Evidence Level V, descriptive study

Anorexia nervosa and emotional symptoms : a cross-cultural study

Aim. The present study was undertaken to assess the relationship between emotional symptoms and locus of control in female patients with anorexia nervosa of different nationalities. Subjects and methods. The sample comprised 62 anorexic patients and 117 healthy women. The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale and the Internal Powerful Others and Chance Scale were applied in this study. Results. In the dimension of anxiety, depression and locus of control significant statistical differences were observed in clinical groups of different nationalities and between these groups and the control groups. Conclusion. The results confirm studies which concluded that anxiety and depression symptoms and defective experience of control are fundamental factors in the psychopathology of anorexia nervosa

Effects of feminine body image: body attiudes, body image self-discrepancy, and body dissatisfaction and the risk of suicide attempts : a comparison study between women with anorexia and bulimia nervosa

"Our society becomes “lipophobic” (Fischer, 1990; in Brytek-Matera, 2008). Women like to be slim, and to have a slender, beautiful, young body and first and foremost one that is deprived of the excess of adipose tissue (fatty tissue). More and more often women, particularly with eating disorders, have a very negative attitude towards their own bodies and their physical appearance"

Anorexia nervosa among French adolescent females in relation to self-esteem, coping strategies, anger expression and anger control

Aim: This study sought to determine the dimensions of self-esteem, coping strategies, anger expression and anger control among French women diagnosed with anorexia nervosa. Material and method: A clinical group of 32 females suffering from anorexia and 57 healthy females completed an anonymous questionnaire form concerning family life, their state of health and/or the course of their illness, the Self Esteem Inventory, the Brief COPE evaluation, and the Self-Expression Control Scale. Results: Compared with controls, French anorexic adolescents showed low social, familial and general selfesteem. Eating-disordered women used emotional methods of coping more often than the control group and they conceptualised their anger against themselves. Conclusions: We concluded that anorexia nervosa is inseparably connected with low self-esteem, as well as an inability to cope with one’s own emotions, personal problems and feelings

Dimensions of locus of control and the role of anger expression and anger control in women diagnosed with eating disorders : a pilot study

Aim. The present study was aimed at examining the evaluation of locus of control and anger in Polish and French populations with eating disorders. Material and method. The clinical participants comprised 30 Polish patients and 14 French patients suffering from bulimia nervosa. The control group consisted of 107 randomly selected students. Measures included the Internal Powerful Others and Chance Scale and the Self-Expression and Control Scale. Results. The results revealed significant differences between the experimental groups and control groups. Conclusion: The results indicate that locus of control, anger expression and anger control appear to be useful variables for understanding eating disorder symptoms

Exploring the factors related to body image dissatisfaction in the context of obesity

Aim. Self-esteem as well as emotion-oriented and problem-oriented coping strategies were examined as a possible predictive factors for body dissatisfaction in an obese female population. This study also examined the relationship between dissatisfaction with one’s own body, self-esteem and stress-coping behaviours. Method. The study population consisted of 123 women, among whom there were 63 obese female (mean BMI = 37.0, SD = 8.0) and 60 non-obese female individuals (mean BMI = 23.0, SD = 7.6). All participants completed the Body Dissatisfaction Scale, the Self-Esteem Inventory and the Brief Coping Orientation to Problems Experienced Scale. Results. Use of emotional support as an emotion-oriented coping strategy, coping planning and general self-esteem are found to be predictive of body dissatisfaction in women with obesity. Body dissatisfaction was positively correlated with behavioural disengagement as a coping strategy and negatively correlated with coping planning, positive reframing coping as well as different dimensions of self-esteem. Conclusion. Dissatisfaction with one’s physical appearance in obese women is connected to emotionoriented coping strategies and low self-esteem

Mood and emotional symptoms in eating disordered patients

Aim. This study evaluated the relationship between mood and emotional symptoms and disordered eating behaviours. Material and methods. Sixty women with eating disorders were investigated. The control group consisted of 60 students. The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale and the Eating Disorder Inventory were applied in this study. Results. It was found that anxiety symptoms in girls with anorexia nervosa significantly correlated with maturity fears, whereas in patients with bulimia they were significantly connected to a drive for thinness. Conclusion. Occurrence of depression and anxiety symptoms suggest a necessity of complex medical and psychological treatment including focus on areas such as psyche and som

Drive for muscularity as men's body image determinant

"Body dissatisfaction is a problem for a large percentage of boys and men, but male body concerns differ from those of girls and women. Specifically, males are significantly more likely to want to increase their size, particularly in terms of muscularity, while females typically want to get thinner in order to match the culturally defined body ideals. Compared to women, men may also be somewhat more invested in how well their bodies function, especially in terms of athletics and fitness than in appearance (Smolak and Stein, 2006)"

Poczucie własnej wartości, strategie radzenia sobie ze stresem i ekspresja złości u francuskich pacjentek chorych na jadłowstręt psychiczny

Aim. The aim of this study is to evaluate and compare self-esteem, coping strategies and feeling of anger in French populations with anorexia nervosa. Method. Thirty two adolescents with anorexia nervosa were investigated during their hospitalisation in the Psychiatric Department of the Hospital Sainte-Croix of Metz and of the Hospital of Children of Nancy-Brabois. The control group consisted of 57 French students of the University of Verlaine Paul in Metz. An anonymous questionnaire form concerning family life, the state of health and course of illness, the Self Esteem Inventory by Coopersmith ( 1984), the Brief COPE by Carver (1997) and the Self Expression Control Scale by Van Elderen et al. ( 1997) were applied to 89 women. Results and conclusion. The results showed that there are statistically significant differences between self-esteem, coping strategies and feeling of anger in French anorexics and the French group control. French anorectic adolescents show low social, familial and general self-esteem. They can be described as making less use of acceptance, humour and focus on and venting of emotions as the coping strategies, as usually not reinterpreting the situation positively in order to deal with emotional distress (do not use the coping strategy of positive reinterpretation) and as reducing their efforts to cope with the situation (behavioural disengagement). French anorexics conceptualise their anger against themselves (the intériorisation of anger)