Social desirability and eating disorders. A community study of an Italian school-aged sample.
OBJECTIVE
To explore the links between social desirability and eating disorders in a sample of adolescents in a north-east area of Italy.


METHODS
A mixed male-female sample of 1000 school-aged adolescents, corresponding to 10% of the young population aged 15-19 years living in the district, were investigated with self-reported questionnaires, including the Eating Attitudes Test (EAT), the Bulimic Investigatory Test of Edinburgh (BITE), the Body Attitudes Questionnaire (BAT), and an Italian version of the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale (MC-SDS).


RESULTS
Females scored higher than males at all eating disorder inventories. In both genders there was a negative relationship (in all cases P < 0.01) between scores at the eating disorder inventories and those at the MC-SDS. When analysing eating disorder "caseness", as measured by cut-off, "cases" reported significantly lower scores than "non-cases" at the MC-SDS in both genders.


CONCLUSIONS
Personality traits measured by the MC-SDS, such as defensiveness, self-esteem, and dependence from approval, might contribute to the development of abnormal eating patterns at risk of eating disorders.
Miotto
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P
Department of Drugs and Alcohol Dependence, ULSS 7, Conegliano, TV, Italy.
De Coppi
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M
Frezza
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M
Rossi
M
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Preti
A
A
D000293:Adolescent; D001294:Attitude to Health; D001828:Body Image; D001068:Feeding and Eating Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D010551:Personality; D010555:Personality Inventory; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012649:Self Concept; D012917:Social Adjustment; D012928:Social Desirability; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires