Aims: To estimate the prevalence of eating disorders (EDs) and associated risk factors in a sample of undergraduate students.
Methods: This is a cross-sectional study. We used a questionnaire consisting of the following sections: demographics, SCOFF questionnaire for screening EDs, the Achievement Anxiety Test (AAT) and the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS). Our sample was selected randomly. Sample size was 535 students (44% men, 56% women), and 33% of students were between 18 and 20 years old (age range 16–28).
Results: SCOFF's reliability measured by Cronbach's alpha was 0.542; AAT's alpha for its facilitating scale was 0.682 and debilitating scale 0.821; finally, DASS's depression, anxiety and stress sections’ alpha were 0.923, 0.896 and 0.876 respectively. The prevalence of EDs was 42.2%. The associated factors with the presence of EDs was gender (62% women, 38% men; X2 = 5.007, p = 0.025) and personal family status (X2 = 18.862, p = 0.002), while having divorced parents was a borderline association (OR = 1.53, 95% CI 0.97–2.42). Mann-Whitney’s U test showed that there was a significant difference in the scale of stress between those with an ED and those without (p = 0.026) but not for depression and anxiety. According to multiple logistic regression, risk factors for having an eating disorder were depression, stress, female gender, being married and searching for a romantic relationship (overall model fit p < 0.0001).
Conclusion: This is the first study on EDs from Greece. Depression and stress were significant predictors of EDs, which shows the importance of these two factors in the pathogenesis of EDs.