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The relationship between perfectionism and eating pathology: the mediating roles of body dissatisfaction and alexithymia

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Abstract

This study examined the relationship between perfectionism and eating pathology, and investigated the mediating role of body dissatisfaction and alexithymia in the relationship. Two studies were employed in the current research. A large sample (N = 2420) with cross-sectional data was used to determine the relationship between perfectionism and eating pathology, whereas three-wave longitudinal data (N = 312) with three-month intervals were used to examine the mediation models. The results indicated that: (1) Perfectionism was significantly associated with eating pathology, after controlling for relevant demographic factors. (2) Both body dissatisfaction and alexithymia fully mediated the relationship between perfectionism and eating pathology in the single mediation models. (3) Body dissatisfaction emerged as the stronger mediator in the relationship in the parallel mediation model. The results indicated that among Chinese college students, perfectionism had an indirect effect on eating pathology, through body dissatisfaction and alexithymia, and body dissatisfaction was shown to be a stronger pathway. The current findings highlighted the need to focus on college students with higher levels of perfectionism and mitigate the risk of eating pathology by improving body image and enhancing emotion awareness and expression.

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Data availability

Part of the datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available at https://osf.io/m8vu6/.

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Funding

This study was supported by the Social Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (Project No. 2019SJB922).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Mental Health Education Center for College Students, China University of Mining and Technology, Jiangsu Province, P. R. China

    Po Hu

  2. Beijing Key Laboratory of Applied Experimental Psychology Faculty of Psychology, National Demonstration Center for Experimental Psychology Beijing Normal University, Beijing, P. R. China

    Tong Xie, Wenli Qian, Xiaoyan Liu & Jianping Wang

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Correspondence to Jianping Wang.

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This study was performed in line with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki. Approval was granted by the Ethics Committee of Beijing Normal University.

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Po Hu and Tong Xie contributed equally to the study and, therefore, share first authorship.

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Hu, P., Xie, T., Qian, W. et al. The relationship between perfectionism and eating pathology: the mediating roles of body dissatisfaction and alexithymia. Curr Psychol 42, 30939–30948 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-022-04068-w

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