Body dissatisfaction, risk behaviors and eating disorders in university students

Body dissatisfaction implies appreciatory body judgments that are different from real characteristics of individuals' body. One of the most important method to control weight and body shape is to be involved in eating risk behaviours, which includes a great amount of negative and damaging behaviours for the individual. Both factors (body dissatisfaction and eating risk behaviours) constitute key elements in the beginning and development of Eating Disorders (ED). The aim of the present study was to analyse differences in some psychological variables attending to body dissatisfaction and eating risk behaviours informed by a sample of university adults. Using Garner's Eating Disorder Inventory-3 (EDI-3) results point out a hig- her risk of ED (drive for thinness, body dissatisfaction and bulimia) in those individuals with body dissatisfaction, and also higher scores of low self-esteem, personal alienation, interperso- nal insecurity, interoceptive deficits, emotional dysregulation, asceticism and maturity fears. Attending to eating risk behaviours, individuals who informed more risk behaviours showed more risk of ED, low self-esteem, interoceptive deficits, emotional dysregulation, perfectionism and asceticism.