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Relationships between educational achievement, intelligence, and perfectionism in adolescents with eating disorders
Author(s) -
Schilder Christina M. T.,
Sternheim Lot C.,
Aarts Emmeke,
Elburg Annemarie A.,
Danner Un.
Publication year - 2021
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.23482
Subject(s) - perfectionism (psychology) , psychology , intelligence quotient , normative , academic achievement , developmental psychology , eating disorders , association (psychology) , population , clinical psychology , cognition , psychiatry , medicine , philosophy , environmental health , epistemology , psychotherapist
Objective High performance at school is associated with the risk of eating disorders (EDs), and perfectionism is proposed as an explanatory factor for this association. This study aims to evaluate (a) potential discrepancies between the measured IQ of adolescents with EDs and the IQ that is expected given their educational track, and (b) to what extent perfectionism was associated with educational achievement independent from IQ. Method WISC‐III Verbal IQ, Performance IQ, and Full Scale IQ of 386 adolescent ED patients were compared with population norms for their educational track, using one‐sample t tests. The association between self‐oriented perfectionism (Eating Disorder Inventory‐2) and educational achievement, adjusted for IQ, was determined with sequential ordinal regression analyses. Results Over 50% of the patients received pre‐university education, the most complex educational track. For patients receiving education in the second most complex track, IQ‐scores were lower than normative data for that track. For patients receiving pre‐university education, the verbal IQ was lower than the norm for that track. Self‐oriented perfectionism was associated with educational achievement independent from intelligence. Discussion This study suggests that high educational achievement is common in adolescents with EDs. Particularly for patients who receive education in the most complex tracks the demands at school may be higher than they can handle, based on their IQ. Self‐oriented perfectionism contributed to educational achievement independent from IQ. Our results indicate that treatment for EDs should include awareness for the possibility of a too high target level of patients at school and perfectionism.