Objective: Relationship among the inclination towards eating disorders, self-efficacy controlling overeating, self-efficacy for controlling diet refusal, psychological stress responses, the drive for thinness, and attitudes towards sweets in university women were investigated.
Methods: A survey was conducted among 280 female university students in July 2003 using the following scales: the Japanese version of the psychological stress response scale, the drive for thinness scale, the attitudes towards sweets scale, the overeating control self-efficacy scale, the diet refusal control self-efficacy scale, and the inclination towards eating disorder scales (EAT-26 and Bulimia of EDI).
Results: As a result of multiple regression analysis, overeating control self-efficacy score negatively affected the Bulimia score (β=−.333, p <.001), whereas the diet refusal control self-efficacy score positively affected the EAT-26 score (β=.104, p <.05). Psychological stress response, the drive for thinness, and the attitudes towards sweets also affected the scores of Bulimia and EAT-26 positively.
Conclusion: It is suggested that high overeating control self-efficacy is useful for preventing over eating. This appears to be a fruitful area for future research in controlling eating behavior.
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