Mediation effect of anxiety on the relationship between perfectionism and disordered eating behaviors among girls: implication for health promotion

A B S T R A C T
Introduction: The prevalence of disordered eating behavior has been reported to increase in recent decades; therefore, the search for specific psychological variables that may contribute to the etiology of this disorder is of great importance. The current study examined the mediating role of the anxiety on the relationship between perfectionism and disordered eating behaviors among female student.
Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was performed in 2014 upon a sample consisting of 264 female students in Allame Tabatabaie University were selected based on multi-stage cluster random sampling. Then, participants responded to the questionnaires of anxiety perfectionism and eating attitudes test. The data were analyzed by SPSS software using coefficient correlation and stepwise regression. Statistical differences were considered significant at P<0.01.
Results: The results showed that there was internal significant correlation among anxiety, perfectionism and disordered eating behaviors (p<0.01). Also, regression analysis indicated that anxiety significantly mediated the relationship between perfectionism and disordered eating behaviors (p<0.01).
Conclusions: According to the findings of the present study, considering the role of anxiety variable is important in prevention and therapy programs for perfectionism in eating disorders.
Keywords: Anxiety, perfectionism, disordered eating behavior, women