Risk of disordered eating in emerging adulthood: media, body and weight-related correlates among Hungarian female university students

BACKGROUND: University years often are accompanied by dramatic lifestyle changes resulting in an elevated risk of disordered eating among females. We examined the associations of disordered eating with body image, weight and media-related variables. METHODS: Hungarian female university students (n = 261, mean age = 22.0 years; SD = 2.2 years) were the study participants using online data collection. The Eating Attitude Test-26 (EAT-26) was used to assess levels of and risk for disordered eating. RESULTS: Twenty-four percent of the sample displayed disordered eating: students with family’s eating disorders (OR = 4.73 [1.34–16.67], p < 0.05), body satisfaction (OR = 0.23 [0.07-0.70], p < 0.01), engagement in sporting (OR = 4.46[1.77-11.27], p < 0.01) and past slimming (OR = 5.63 [2.07-15.27], p < 0.001) were particularly at risk. Multiple linear regression indicated that dieting was associated with a higher score among sporting students (β = 0.18, p < 0.001) and internalization of media messages (β = 0.18, p < 0.001). BMI was a predictor of dieting (β = 0.15, p < 0.01) and oral control (β = -0.34, p < 0.001); social media addiction for bulimia (β = 0.17, p < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Our paper highlights the role of body dissatisfaction, sporting and slimming tendencies, sociocultural attitudes toward appearance, and family’s eating pathology in understanding female university students’ disordered eating. There is a limited role that social media plays in part, due to possible age-related experiences and skills related to coping with a variety of social pressures.