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Body Shame and Disordered Eating in Adolescents

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Abstract

This study aimed to examine the predictive utility of body shame on eating behaviors in adolescents, while controlling for age, sex and body mass index (BMI). Participants were 400 Croatian adolescent girls and boys who completed self-report questionnaires assessing body shame and eating behaviors. Results showed that the mean eating behaviors score and the mean body shame score were significantly higher in females compared to males. Body shame explained statistically significant amount of eating behaviors variance after controlling for age, sex and BMI. Participants’ age and BMI did not play a role as significant predictors of eating behaviors. Implications for future research, including the importance of prospective longitudinal designs, are discussed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Diagnostics in Zagreb, Prison System Directorate, Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Croatia, Dr. Luje Naletilica 1, 10000, Zagreb, Croatia

    Jelena Mustapic

  2. Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital Center Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia

    Darko Marcinko

  3. Department of Psychiatry, County Hospital Cakovec, Cakovec, Croatia

    Petra Vargek

Authors
  1. Jelena Mustapic
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  2. Darko Marcinko
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  3. Petra Vargek
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Correspondence to Jelena Mustapic.

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Funding

Self-funded PhD research.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Disclosure of Potential Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Informed Consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Mustapic, J., Marcinko, D. & Vargek, P. Body Shame and Disordered Eating in Adolescents. Curr Psychol 36, 447–452 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-016-9433-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-016-9433-3

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