EATING ATTITUDES AND BELIEFS IN FOOD MYTHS AMONG ADOLESCENT

Abstract

This research was designed to explore the eating attitudes and beliefs in food myths among adolescents. It also investigated the mediation of body image on the path of Body Mass Index (BMI) and eating attitudes. The research has been completed in five studies. Study I was qualitative in nature and based on understanding of the phenomenon of eating attitudes in Pakistani context. For this purpose data was collected in eight focus groups from a sample (N = 69) of adolescents (33 boys and 36 girls). Content analysis was applied to find out the categories and subcategories of eating attitude in the data. Overall, six categories were clustered in three components i.e., affective (food relation with body), behavioral (food preferences, overeating, and eating patterns), and cognitive (over concern about weight and appearance and food myths belief). Study II dealt with the development of Eating Attitude Scale (EAS) and Food Myth Scale (FMS). A sample of 540 adolescents including boys (n = 267) and girls (n = 273) was taken from colleges/ universities of Rawalpindi/Islamabad with ' age range from 16-22 years (M= 18.25; SD = 2.01). Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) grouped 33 items in three factors i. e., food relation with body, overeating, and irregular eating routines for EAS while FMS was a unifactor scale of 18 items. Psychometric properties of scales were further established. Study III was aimed at translation and validation of Multidimensional Body Self-Relations QuestionnaireAppearance Scale (MBSRQ-AS; Cash, 2000) and it is accomplished in two phases. Phase I addressed the translation and language validation of scaLe by using forwardback translation. Phase II aimed to establish the factorial structure of MBSRQ:-AS Urdu version. Data from sample of 350 college students including boys (n = 135) and xiii girls (n = 215) was taken into consideration. EF A revealed 27 items in four factors i.e., body area satisfaction, appearance orientation, appearance evaluation, and overweight pre-occupation. Reliabilities of scales were found satisfactory. Study IV addressed the validation of EAS and FMS. A sample of 500 adolescents (227 boys and 273 girls) was involved in this study and is accomplished in four steps. First step addressed the construct validation through confirmatory factor analysis (CF A) for EAS, FMS, and MBSRQ-AS Urdu version. Step II addressed the convergent validity with Disordered Eating Behavior Scale (DEBS; Muazzam & Khalid, 2011). In step III discriminant validity was established with the help of MBSRQ-AS Urdu version and Extraversion subscale ofNEO-FFI (Chishti & Kamal, 2009). Study V aimed to determine the psychosocial correlates for eating attitudes and testing hypotheses. Sample of 1250 adolescents including boys (n = 609) and girls (n = 641) with the age range from 16-22 years (M = 18.25; SD = 2.01). Results confirmed the negative relationship with eating attitudes and body image dissatisfaction. Moreover, moderation of gender and food myths on the relationship between body image and eating attitudes was tested. It was found that body area satisfaction and overweight pre-occupation mediate the path between BMI and eating attitudes. Furthermore, moderating role of gender was also explored in the mediating effect of body area satisfaction and overweight pre-occupation and this model was found significant for Pakistani adolescents. Girls with high BMI scores experience more fat anxiety and show less body area satisfaction as compared to boys in turn control their eating in a way to develop the unhealthy or negative eating attitudes. In the end, findings were discussed in Pakistani cultural context and its implication in Pakistani society.