A Comprehensive Study of Personal and Sociocultural Factors in Eating Disorders

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to make a comprehensive investigation of the personality and sociocultural factors that affect eating disorders. A total of 321 adolescent and young adult females completed a questionnaire which included questions about thinness-oriented culture and sense of gender roles in order to examine sociocultural factors. Also, for analysis of personality factors, the questionnaire asked about self-esteem and interdependent self-concept. Results of the questionnaire supported the following hypotheses: Interdependent self-contrual with excessive emphasis on adjusting oneself to the sociocultural standards lowered self-esteem and tended to cause eating disorder symptoms. These results also supported the notion that sociocultural factors such as thinness-oriented culture and gender roles affected eating disorder symptoms, and that personality factors that would make the person vulnerable to the effects of sociocultural factors could also be examined empirically.