The eating attitudes, body image, and depression of Japanese female university students

We examined the interrelationship of eating attitudes, body-checking behavior cognition, and depression among Japanese female university students. The 197 student participants were divided, according to their Eating Attitudes Test (EAT-26) scores, into 3 groups: high (EAT-H), medium (EAT-M), and low (EAT-L). Body-checking behavior and depression scores were compared among the 3 groups, using a 1-way analysis of variance. Results showed that the EAT-L group had the lowest scores for objective verification, body control, and depression. Further, the obsessive thoughts body image score increased as scores on the EAT-26 did, indicating that inappropriate eating attitudes have a strong impact on obsessive thoughts. In addition, the EAT-M group had a higher reassurance–confidence score than that of the EAT-L group, and the EAT-H group had the highest scores for objective verification, obsessive thoughts, body control, and depression. Implications of the findings are discussed and directions for future research proposed.