Stress, coping, and disturbed eating attitudes in teenage girls

✍ Scribed by Fryer, Stephanie ;Waller, Glenn ;Kroese, Biza Stenfert

• Publisher: Wiley (John Wiley & Sons)
• Year: 1997
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 58 KB
• Volume: 22
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0276-3478
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1098-108x(199712)22:4<427::aid-eat8>3.0.co;2-o

✦ Synopsis

Objective:

This study explored the relationship between stressors and disturbed eating attitudes among adolescent females, assessing the moderating role of coping and the mediating influence of poor self-esteem.

Method:

Two hundred eighty-six teenage girls were recruited from local schools, and completed standardized measures of stressors, coping, self-esteem, perfectionism, and disturbed eating attitudes. regression analyses were used to test for moderating and mediating effects.

Results:

Stressors and emotion-focused coping were found to be associated with low self-esteem, which in turn was strongly associated with disturbed eating attitudes. stressors were also directly related to disturbed eating attitudes.

Discussion:

The findings provide partial support for existing models of the etiology and maintenance of eating psychopathology, but have wider implications for our understanding of the eating disorders and their treatment.