The relationship between eating attitudes, body mass index, age, and gender in Australian university students

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Abstract
University students (N = 1485) completed the Eating Disorders Inventory (EDI) from Garner and Olmsted (1984) and a questionnaire designed to obtain physical and social background data. Although body mass indices (BMI) for females were lower than for males, females were more dissatisfied with their bodies and had higher drive for thinness than males across all categories of BMI. Even the most overweight (BMI > 30) males were more satisfied with their bodies than the most underweight females. This subgroup (BMI = 16–17) had profiles which were most discrepant from the Garner and Olmsted EDI profile for anorexic females, that is, their scores on the subscales of drive for thinness, bulimia, body dissatisfaction, and ineffectiveness were lower than those found for females in all other categories of BMI. Results indicated that the eating attitudes of this sample of Australian university students were similar to those previously reported for American and British students. This study supports the view that sociocultural variables have aetiological significance in shaping female Australian university students' eating attitudes and behaviours. However, these variables alone do not appear sufficient to account for the development of an eating disorder.

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