مطالعات اجتماعی روانشناختی زنان (Jun 2022)
The Relationship between Spiritual Attitude and Symptoms of Eating Disorders Mediated by Body Image Concern and Self-Esteem: Designing and Testing a Structural Model in young women
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to design and test a structural model of the relationship between spiritual attitudes and symptoms of eating disorders concerning the mediating role of body image concern and self-esteem in young women. Using cluster sampling method, 298 female undergraduate students of the Islamic Azad University of Khomeini Shahr were selected as the research sample and responded to the Spiritual Attitude Questionnaire, Body Image Concern Inventory, Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, and Eating Attitude Test. To test the research model, the structural equation modeling method was used, using the maximum likelihood estimation method. Also, to evaluate the significance of the indirect effects of the model, the bootstrap method was used. Data analysis was performed with SPSS-24 and AMOS-24 software. The results showed that the research model has a good fit with the data and all direct and indirect effects of the proposed model are significant. In general, these results support the importance of the role of spiritual attitude in improving various aspects of mental health, especially the symptoms of eating disorders in women.Spiritual Attitude, Body Image Concern, Self–Esteem, Eating Disorders Symptoms, Young Women. IntroductionEating disorders are disorders related to eating behaviors that affect the thoughts, attitudes, emotions and physiological functions of individuals. Eating disorders in DSM5 have been described as highly prevalent in young women (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). At the core of eating disorders is body image concern. Concerns about body image are associated with compensatory behaviors for beauty and fitness both in the general community and in people with eating disorders. Also, people with body image concerns experience low self-esteem over time due to negative selfevaluations (Özdin, Karabekiroğlu, Özbalcı, & Aker, 2021). On the other hand, spiritual attitude is a set of beliefs about the abilities and capacities of spiritual resources, the use of which increases adaptability and thus promotes mental health. These beliefs have a positive effect on giving meaning to different components of life and are effective factors in reducing life problems and increasing mental health (Litalien, Atari, & Obasi, 2021). MethodologyThe design of the present study was a correlational design. According to Kline's rule, 10 to 20 samples per model parameter (Kline, 2015) and also, taking into account the number of model parameters, the sample size was calculated to be 300 people. A total of 298 female students, with an average age of 21.32 and a standard deviation of 1.67 were selected from Khomeini Shahr Azad University students in the 2019-2020 academic year using cluster sampling method and answered the research questionnaires. Research instruments included: Spiritual Attitude Questionnaire (Shahidi and Farajnia, 2012) with 43 items, Body Image Concern Inventory (Littleton, Axum, and Poory, 2005) to assess concernces about appearance deformity including 19 items, Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (Rosenberg, 1965) includes 10 items to measure self-esteem, Eating Attitudes Test (Garner, Olmsted, Bohr & Garfikel, 1982) to measure the symptoms of eating disorder with 26 questions and 3 scales of diet, overeating and mental occupation with food and oral inhibition. Descriptive features including mean, standard deviation, skewness and kurtosis, and correlation between variables were performed using SPSS software versionStructural equation modeling method was used to test the conceptual model and Maximum likelihood estimation method was used to estimate the model parameters. To evaluate the fit of the research model with experimental data, various types of fit indices and to evaluate the significance of the types of effects in the model, the bootstrap method was used. All structural equation modeling analyzes were performed using version 24 of AMOS software.FindingsAfter examining the descriptive features and correlation between the variables, the conceptual model of the research was tested. This model includes four variables: spiritual attitude as exogenous variable, body image concern and selfesteem as mediating variables and latent variable of eating disorders symptoms as endogenous variable. This model was analyzed using the maximum likelihood estimation method and its fitting indices and estimated parameters were extracted. These results showed that the χ2/df index is less than 3 and is significant at the alpha level of 0.05. These results show that the sample variance-covariance matrix is not significantly different from the population variance-covariance matrix and the model fits the experimental data. Also, the size of RMSEA and SRMR indices is less than 0.05 and GFI, AGFI, NFI, TLI and CFI indices are more than 0.95. These results show that all the fit indices of the present model are in the desired range. According to these results, in general, the conceptual model of the research has a good fit with the experimental data obtained from the sample group. Examination of the model parameters also shows that all factor loads related to the latent variable of eating disorders symptoms, all path coefficients (direct effects) of the model and all indirect effects of the model are significant at the alpha level of 0.01. These results showed that spiritual attitude has a negative effect on body image concern and a positive effect on self-esteem. Also, body image concern has a negative effect on the eating disorders symptoms and a positive effect on self-esteem. Finally, self-esteem has a negative effect on the eating disorders symptoms. ResultFranczyk (2014) believes that the existence of spiritual attitudes in the individual actually means a secure attachment to God. In this case, performing spiritual acts reminds the person that he is accepted by a powerful source, and this acceptance gives him self-esteem. This sense of self-worth leads to unconditional acceptance, including acceptance of physical and physical features. This type of attitude based on acceptance increases self-esteem and asense of worth in the individual. Conversely, a person who does not have a spiritual attitude does not find meaning in life and does not accept what has been given to him by the Creator, this rejection includes the person's past, physical image and future events. However, such a person is always trying to make a difference.The most important behavioral response to body image concern is to try to lose weight. Tiggemann and Hage (2019) theory can be used to explain the mediating role of self-esteem and body image concern in the relationship between spiritual attitudes and symptoms of eating disorders. Tiggemann and Hage (2019) argue that having positive relationships with God, spiritual attitudes, religious affiliations, and religiosity-based behaviors does not directly reduce the symptoms of eating disorders, and the direct effects of these variables on each other will not be confirmed regardless of the mediating variables. However, Tigman and Hogg (2019) found that a positive relationship with God and the formation of deep spiritual attitudes, by increasing acceptance of oneself, others, and the world, creates spiritual motivation in the individual and his or her psychological well-being. And reduces fruitless efforts to change appearance based on increased mental health and mental well-being. In this way, people are more prepared to accept their genetic and God-given appearance and the symptoms of eating disorders will be reduced.In general, these findings support the effect of spiritual attitude on various dimensions of mental health in women. The most important limitation of the present study was the use of cross-sectional data and the limited community to students. These findings can be used to design educational and therapeutic interventions related to eating disorders in order to reduce the maladaptive manifestations of eating disorders symptoms in both normal women and among women with this disorder.
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