What Kind of Dieting Behavior Is Related to Eating Disorder Tendencies and Binge Eating ?

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the actual dieting behavior in terms of eating disorders, and the relationship between dieting behavior and binge eating. Questionnaires on dieting behavior (the Dieting Behavior Scale), the Eating Attitudes Test (EAT), and the Binge Eating Scale were administered to a sample of 2,019 female high school students and 847 female undergraduate students. As a result of factor analysis of the Dieting Behavior Scale, it was revealed that there were two kinds of dieting behavior, one was Structured Diet (e. g., avoiding eating sweet-s and high calorie food) and the other was Extraordinary Diet (e. g., using laxatives to lose weight) . The stronger eating disorder tendency which was estimated by the EAT was, the more frequencies of both dieting behavior were. However, it was prominent that eating disorder group went on Extraordinary Diet more frequently than the high eating disorder tendency group whose subjects were in normal range in the EAT scores. A result of the regression analysis showed that only extraordinary diet affects binge eating, not structured diet.