The Relationship between Social Physique Anxiety and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorders with Eating Problems among Adolescent

Social physique anxiety (SPA) and Obsessive-compulsive disorders (OCD) are highly correlated and have been considered to be important in understanding eating problems. HoweverSPA and OCD have not been directly studied with respect to eating problems. Thus, the aim of this study was to examine the relationship between SPA and OCD and measures of eating problems. This cross-sectional analytical study was done on 100 adolescent girls in Isfahan-Iran. The girls completed questionnaires measuring Social physique anxiety scale (SPAS, 17-item), Obsessive-Compulsive Disorders (30- item) and Eating problems (31-item). Data were analyzed by the statistical tests of Pearson correlation coefficient, Student’s t-test, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), and regression through SPSS version 14. The mean age of students was 15.1+ 2.3, 53% had normal Body mass index (BMI) and 83% of them had moderate economical status. There was a positive correlation between the rate of eating problems symptoms with OCD (P<0.05, r= 0.365). Also, there was a positive correlation between the rate of eating problems symptoms with SPA, too (P<0.05, r= 0.360). The results indicate that SPA and OCD appears to be a useful construct for understanding eating problems in girls adolescent.