Psychosocial moderators of the relationship between body dissatisfaction and symptoms of eating disorders: A look at a sample of young Italian women

Introduction. – Various psychosocial variables may affect the strength of the relationship between body image dissatisfaction and women’s eating disorder symptomatology. Objective. – Informed by Tylka (2004) and Brannan and Petrie (2011) research, the current study examined body surveillance and self-esteem as well as three additional theoretically relevant variables (social interaction anxiety, internalization of media ideals and attachment anxiety) as potential moderators of this relationship. Method. – A cross-sectional design was used. A sample of 538 young Italian women completed self-report questionnaires. Results. – Hierarchical moderated regression indicated that self-esteem buffered the deleterious effects of body dissatisfaction, whereas social interaction anxiety, body surveillance, internalization of media ideals and attachment anxiety intensified the primary body dissatisfaction-eating disorder symptomatology relationship. Conclusion. – Several risk and protective factors were found to interact with body dissatisfaction to influence its relation to women’s eating disorder symptomatology. Practical implications and directions for future research are discussed.