Abstract

ABSTRACTLinks between religiosity, spirituality and disordered eating have been posited theoretically and empirically, though most studies have accessed predominantly Christian or Jewish samples from private educational institutions, using surveys which contain a heavy Judeo-Christian bias. The aim of the current study is to explore the relationship between disordered eating psychopathology (DEP) and spiritual, religious and personal beliefs (SRPBs) in a diverse sample of students with a wide range of cultural, religious and spiritual affiliations. Using a cross-sectional design, female students (n = 687) across two universities in Sydney, Australia completed the Eating Disorder Inventory-3 and the SRPB portion of the World Health Organisation Quality of Life – Spiritual, Religious and Personal Beliefs bref (WHOQOL-SRPB bref) questionnaire. While both existential and religious beliefs were significantly correlated with lower levels of DEP, multivariate analysis found that existential beliefs alone predict...

Highlights

  • As with many industrialised countries, the number of Australians with an eating disorder has been increasing

  • Three symptom clusters commonly used to measure Disordered eating psychopathology (DEP) include drive for thinness (DT), bulimia (B) and body dissatisfaction (BD) (Garner, 2004; Gleaves, Pearson, Ambwani, & Morey, 2014)

  • Using a methodology intended to minimise past design problems, the purpose of this study is to explore the relationship between SRPBs and DEP through general and multidimensional facets in a diverse sample of students with a wide range of cultural, religious and spiritual affiliations

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Summary

Introduction

As with many industrialised countries, the number of Australians with an eating disorder has been increasing. Three symptom clusters commonly used to measure DEP include drive for thinness (DT), bulimia (B) and body dissatisfaction (BD) (Garner, 2004; Gleaves, Pearson, Ambwani, & Morey, 2014). Those who experience aspects of DEP are at a greater risk of developing or having a clinical eating disorder (Fredrickson & Roberts, 1997; Kotler, Cohen, Davies, Pine, & Walsh, 2001; Treasure, Claudino, & Zucker, 2010). With serious physical and mental health consequences, and elevated mortality rates (Arcelus, Mitchell, Wales, & Nielsen, 2011), eating disorders remain difficult to treat and novel avenues need to be explored, including a focus on risk factors and ideally strategies in prevention

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