Association of biological, psychological and lifestyle risk factors for eating disturbances in adolescents

Abstract

We aimed to assess the association of several risk factors for eating disturbances in adolescents. Participants were 448 girls and boys aged 12–15 years. Being female, higher body mass index, internalisation of standard of appearance, perfectionism, body dissatisfaction, number of lifetime addictive behaviours and lower self-esteem were associated with higher eating disturbance scores, whereas frequency of sedentary behaviours and physical activity were not ( R2 ⩾ 41%). Findings suggest the need to guide prevention efforts towards the broad spectrum of individual potentially modifiable factors. A non-specific comprehensive perspective may be adequate to prevent problems related to weight, body image and drug use.