Designing and Testing a Model of the Antecedents of Eating Disorders Symptoms in Female Students of Isfahan University in 2017: A Descriptive Study

Eating disorders include a range of illnesses associated with weight gain or weight loss. Studies show that this disorder begins in the middle to late adolescence (14-18 years old) and is also more prevalent in female sex. The purpose of this study was designing and testing a model of antecedents of eating disorders symptoms in undergraduate female students of Isfahan University in 2017. In this descriptive study, 497 undergraduate female students of Isfahan University in 2017 were selected by multistage sampling method and responded to five research scales. In the research proposed model, eating disorder beliefs, perfectionism, self-esteem and body image concern were considered as the antecedent variables. To test the research conceptual model, structural equation modeling was applied using maximum likelihood estimation method. The results of the analysis showed that the fit indices for the research model were in an acceptable range. Also, these results showed that all direct paths in the research model were statistically significant (p≤0.05). The results of studying the indirect paths of the research model were also statistically significant (p≤0.05). The results showed formation of eating disorder symptoms through cognitive and personality variables in an Iranian sample. Therefore, in preventing and planning for the treatment of these patients, it seems necessary to attend to the set of these factors.