Eat, pray, love: disordered eating in religious and non-religious men and women

Abstract

Plain Language Summary Studies have identified benefits and risks of aspects of religiosity in disordered eating. Our purpose was to explore the role of gender and religiosity in disordered eating. We found that, in males, religiosity was associated with increases in all aspects of disordered eating as well as increased pressure to maintain the thin ideal. Among religious and non-religious females, there were fewer differences in disordered eating attitudes and behaviours. Religious and non-religious females reported similar pressures to attain the thin ideal. Thus, future research should further examine the underlying factors of religiosity related to disordered eating in men and women.

Keywords

• Disordered eating
• Appearance-related pressures and internalizations
• Religiosity
• Gender