Sociocultural Influence and Eating Problem in University Students: Mediating Role of Body Image Dissatisfaction

Abstract

Eating disorders are no-longer considered culture-bound syndromes of the West with increasing prevalence rates across the globe. Despite the growing concern, there’s a paucity of research on the etiological mechanisms underlying eating disorders in Pakistani university students, including both men and women. Based on sociocultural theory, objectification theory and self-discrepancy theory, the present study examined the mediating role of body image dissatisfaction between sociocultural influences (family, peers, and media) and eating problems in university students. A cross-sectional study was designed where 181 participants (men = 92; women = 89) were selected (Mage = 21.87 years, SD = 1.88) through convenience sampling. An online self-administered survey was conducted with validated measures, including Sociocultural Attitudes Towards Appearance Questionnaire (SATAQ-4) (Schaefer et al., 2015), Body Esteem Scale for Adolescents and Adults (BESAA) (Mendelson et al., 2001) and Eating Attitudes Test (EAT-26) (Garner et al., 1982). Hayes’ PROCESS was used to conduct the mediation analysis. Pearson correlation was used to ensure that sociocultural influences, body image dissatisfaction and eating problems were correlated with each other. The results indicated that body image dissatisfaction mediated between sociocultural influences (family, peers, media) and eating problems. The study has implications for the prevention and intervention of body image and eating disorders with reference to media literacy programs, counseling and psycho-education.