Risk of Eating Disorders, Perceived Stress and Social Support in University Students : Slice Study
E. Paulisová1, O. Orosová2, L. Hricová2, M. Brutovská1, J. Petkeviciene3, A. Lukács4
1Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice, Department of Psychology, Slovakia
2Pavol Jozef Šafárik University in Košice, Department of Educational Psychology and Psychology of Health, Slovakia
3Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, Department of Preventive Medicine, Lithuania
4University of Miskolc, Department of Theoretical Health Sciences, Faculty of Health Care, Hungary
Background: We aimed to investigate the contribution of gender, country, perceived stress (PS) and perceived social support (PSS) to the risk of eating disorders (ED) among university students. Methods: 1687 freshmen university students (74.21% females, mean age 20.30, SD=3.78) from SK (n=607), LT (n=539) & HU (n=541) completed the SCOFF questionnaire, Cohen´s perceived stress scale and Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support. Binary logistic regression was performed to calculate the odds of risk of ED as a full model with gender, country, PS and PSS as independent variables. Findings: The model was statistically significant and explained between 10.5% & 16.5% of the variance in the occurrence of ED indicators. Gender and country were significant with an odds ratio of 0.421, 95% CI: 0.301-0.589 (men vs. women) and 2.99, 95% CI: 2.20-4.05 (LT vs. SK) respectively. PS increased the likelihood that respondents would be in the ED risk group with an odds ratio of 1.14, 95% CI: 1.10-1.19 and PSS decreased it with an odds ratio of 0.985, 95% CI: 0.977-0.994. Discussion: Prevention strategies of ED should also be aimed at stress management and looking for social support sources.