A survey on the relationship between alexithymia and dissociation experiences with eating attitudes in girl students of Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz

Numerous studies have demonstrated that the prevalence of eating disorders in recent years, especially in young girls, had increased and this can be considered as heterogeneous - multi factorial syndrome. The current study was aimed to investigate the relationship between dissociative experiences and alexithymia with eating attitudes in female students.
This is a correlational descriptive design and the statistical population included the girl students of Shahid Chamran University in educational year of 91-92, which 325 female undergraduate students were selected via multi-phase random clustering and completed the following rating scales; Eating Attitudes Test-26 (EAT-26), Alexithymia Questionnaire (TAS-20), and Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES-28). Data were analyzed was performed using the Pierson correlation and stepwise multiple regression analysis.
Correlation between alexithymia and eating attitudes was significant (r=37.8, P=0.01), and there was a significant positive correlation between dissociative experiences and eating attitudes (r=37.8, P=0.01).
The results highlight a significant association between eating disorders symptoms, dissociative experiences and alexithymia, but the dissociative experiences are stronger predictor for eating disorders symptoms.