Religiousness and disordered eating: does religiousness modify family risk?

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the role of intrinsic and extrinsic religiousness in modifying family risk on disordered eating among women. We hypothesized that intrinsic religiousness would buffer the impact of family risk whereas extrinsic religiousness would increase the risk. In a survey of 876 college women between the ages of 18 and 29, the results showed that, when intrinsic religiousness was higher, there was no relationship between family risk and disordered eating. When intrinsic religiousness was lower, there was a significant positive relationship between family risk and disordered eating. These findings support the hypothesized buffering effect of intrinsic religiousness. For extrinsic religiousness, there was a stronger relationship between family risk and disordered eating when extrinsic religiousness was higher than when it was lower, supporting the hypothesized enhanced vulnerability effect. Future research should actively explore other moderating variables as well as aspects of religiousness that may contribute to risk and resiliency in disordered eating.