The influence of individual psychological characteristics on the eating behavior of the population in a gender, age and social context

Abstract

Studying the dependence of eating disorders with several factors at the same time will reveal the target population groups that have the highest risk of developing these disorders, work with which will allow more efficient use of various methods of its correction. Purpose: to identify risk groups for the development of eating disorders depending on the individual psychological characteristics of the population, taking into account age and sex and social characteristics. Material and methods. 688 people aged 18 to 70 years were surveyed, individually-psychological characteristics, eating disorders were diagnosed. The relationship of eating disorders with age and gender, social and individual psychological characteristics was carried out by one-dimensional and multidimensional analysis. Results. It was showed that among the respondents 33% of sanguine people, 49% had a high level of personal anxiety, 49% had moderate stress tolerance, a tendency to develop emotional (1.9 ± 0.9) and restrictive (2.5 ± 1.0) types of eating behavior was also noted. Taking into account one-dimensional and multi-dimensional analyzes, the risk groups for developing eating disorders are: restrictive - women older than 28 years old inclusive with choleric temperament; emotiogenic - single respondents with low and high levels of anxiety; external - married men with a low level of stress tolerance and women with increased personal anxiety. Conclusions. The considered individual psychological characteristics of the population are associated with the types of EB disturbances with a combination of several parameters. The results indicate a possible risk of developing eating disorders in the population in the context of their individual psychological characteristics, age, sex and social characteristics, which can be used in targeted counseling and preventive work with the population by developing a specialized program for correcting eating behavior for each risk group.