[Assessment of body image and its relationship with eating disorders among female students of Islamic Azad University, Tehran center branch]

ABSTRACT

One of the prevalent psychological disorders, mainly occurring at the end of adolescence and early young hood, is eating disorder which is characterized by abnormal pattern of eating and miscognition of body weight and food consumption. The aim of this study was to determine the body image and its relation with the eating disorder among female students of Islamic Azad University in Tehran center branch. In this descriptive-correlative study, EAT [eating attitudes test] and MBSRQ [multidimensional body self relations questionnaire] were administered to 400 female students selected randomly by stratified sampling. Data were analyzed by chi-square and exact Fisher test using SPSS ver.14 software. Majority of students [87%] had negative body image. According to eating attitudes test [EAT], 21.5% of students had eating disorder. Eating disorder diagnostic inventory [EDDI] revealed that 1.8% and 7.8% of students had anorexia nervosa [AN] and bulimia nervosa [BN], respectively. There was significant correlation between eating disorders and body mass index [p<0.05] and father job [p=0.05]. The prevalence of eating disorder among Iranian female students is almost similar to other countries. The majority of people with negative body image had eating disorder, however there was no significant correlation between body image and eating disorders