Premium
Longitudinal relationships between financial difficulties and eating attitudes in undergraduate students
Author(s) -
Richardson Thomas,
Elliott Peter,
Waller Glenn,
Bell Lorraine
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
international journal of eating disorders
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.785
H-Index - 138
eISSN - 1098-108X
pISSN - 0276-3478
DOI - 10.1002/eat.22392
Subject(s) - psychology , eating disorders , finance , test (biology) , longitudinal study , developmental psychology , mental health , eating attitudes test , clinical psychology , psychiatry , medicine , economics , paleontology , pathology , biology
Objective Previous research has shown a relationship between financial difficulties and poor mental health in students, but there has been no research examining such a relationship for eating attitudes. Method A group of 444 British undergraduate students completed the Index of Financial Stress and the Eating Attitudes Test (26‐item version) at up to four time points across a year at university. Results Higher baseline financial difficulties significantly predicted higher eating attitudes scores at Times 3 and 4 (up to a year), after adjusting for demographic variables and baseline eating attitudes score. Lower family affluence also predicted higher eating attitudes scores at Time 4 (up to a year). A higher eating attitudes score at baseline also significantly predicted greater financial difficulties at Time 2 (3–4 months). When considering these relationships by gender, they were significant for women only. Discussion Greater financial difficulties and lower family affluence predict a worsening in eating attitudes over time in female students. The relationship appears to be partially bi‐directional, with financial difficulties driving poorer eating attitudes in the shorter term. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. (Int J Eat Disord 2015; 48:517–521)