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A study on the interplay between emerging adulthood and eating disorder symptomatology in young adults

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Abstract

Purpose

The primary aim of this study was to investigate the interplay between Arnett’s five features of emerging adulthood and ED symptomatology. The secondary aim of the study was to investigate possible gender differences concerning the relation between emerging adulthood and ED symptomatology.

Methods

337 university students (252 females and 85 males) participated in this study. Each participant was asked to anonymously complete the following questionnaires: Inventory of the Dimensions of Emerging Adulthood (IDEA), Eating Attitudes Test (EAT-26), and Social Physique Anxiety Scale (SPAS).

Results

The female group scored higher in the EAT-26 diet, SPAS, IDEA self-focus and IDEA total score measurements. Additionally, in the female group, identity exploration was correlated with EAT-26 total and bulimia, experimentation/possibilities with EAT-26 total and diet, and negativity/instability with EAT-26 total, diet and bulimia as well as SPAS score. In the male groups, the only significant correlation was between SPAS and instability/negativity. Finally, identity exploration could predict a higher probability of developing ED (EAT ≥ 20) for both the female and male groups.

Conclusions

Emerging adulthood and ED were found to have a close relationship, especially for females. Identity exploration was the emerging adulthood factor that showed the highest relation to ED symptomatology in both the male and female groups. More research is necessary to investigate the specifics of this relationship.

Level of evidence

Level V, cross-sectional descriptive study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Eating Disorders Unit, 1st Department of Psychiatry, Medical School, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece

    Fragiskos Gonidakis & Eleftheria Varsou

  2. Department of Psychology, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece

    Myrto Lemonoudi & Diana Charila

  3. Eginition Hospital, Vas Sofias 74 Str, 11528, Athens, Greece

    Fragiskos Gonidakis

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  1. Fragiskos Gonidakis
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  2. Myrto Lemonoudi
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Correspondence to Fragiskos Gonidakis.

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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.

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

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Gonidakis, F., Lemonoudi, M., Charila, D. et al. A study on the interplay between emerging adulthood and eating disorder symptomatology in young adults. Eat Weight Disord 23, 797–805 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40519-018-0552-8

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