Disordered eating, body dissatisfaction, perfectionism, and mood state in female adolescents

Objective The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between body dissatisfaction, perfectionism, mood, and disordered eating in female adolescents. Methods Three hundred and seventy one adolescents aged between 12 and 16 years of age participated in this research. The Body Shape Questionnaire, Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale, Brunel Mood Scale, and the Eating Attitudes Test - 26 were used to assess, respectively, body dissatisfaction, perfectionism, mood state, and disordered eating. Stepwise multiple linear regression was used to determine the relationship between the independent variables and the Eating Attitudes Test subscale scores. Multivariate analysis of covariance was used to compare the Eating Attitudes Test subscale scores according to body dissatisfaction, perfectionism, and mood state classifications. Results The findings showed that body dissatisfaction (p=0.001), perfectionism (p=0.04), and mood state (p=0.05) were associated with disordered eating in the female adolescents evaluated. Despite the statistically significant results obtained for all independent variables, it is worth mentioning that body dissatisfaction was the main determinant of disordered eating in the multiple regression model. Conclusion It can be concluded that body dissatisfaction explains the variance in disordered eating; however, it is also important to note that perfectionism and mood state are also associated to the disordered eating in female adolescents, although to a lesser extent.