Premium
Social desirability and eating disorders. A community study of an Italian school‐aged sample
Author(s) -
Miotto P.,
De Coppi M.,
Frezza M.,
Rossi M.,
Preti A.
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
acta psychiatrica scandinavica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.849
H-Index - 146
eISSN - 1600-0447
pISSN - 0001-690X
DOI - 10.1034/j.1600-0447.2002.1o186.x
Subject(s) - eating disorders , eating attitudes test , psychology , personality , population , social desirability , clinical psychology , psychiatry , demography , medicine , developmental psychology , environmental health , social psychology , sociology
Objective: To explore the links between social desirability and eating disorders in a sample of adolescents in a north‐east area of Italy. Method: A mixed male–female sample of 1000 school‐aged adolescents, corresponding to 10% of the young population aged 15–19 years living in the district, were investigated with self‐reported questionnaires, including the Eating Attitudes Test (EAT), the Bulimic Investigatory Test of Edinburgh (BITE), the Body Attitudes Questionnaire (BAT), and an Italian version of the Marlowe–Crowne Social Desirability Scale (MC‐SDS). Results: Females scored higher than males at all eating disorder inventories. In both genders there was a negative relationship (in all cases P < 0.01) between scores at the eating disorder inventories and those at the MC‐SDS. When analysing eating disorder `caseness', as measured by cut‐off, `cases' reported significantly lower scores than `non‐cases' at the MC‐SDS in both genders. Conclusion: Personality traits measured by the MC‐SDS, such as defensiveness, self‐esteem, and dependence from approval, might contribute to the development of abnormal eating patterns at risk of eating disorders.