The role of personality traits, sociocultural factors, and body dissatisfaction in anorexia readiness syndrome in women.

Background: The mass media promote certain standards of physical attractiveness. The media coverage, in interaction with body dissatisfaction and personality traits, may intensify specified behaviors in women, that should help them to obtain an ideal body image, e.g., excessive concentration on body image, weight control, increase in physical activity. The intensification of these behaviors can develop anorexia readiness syndrome (ARS) in women. The paper presents a study on the role of the Five-Factor Model personality traits (neuroticism, extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and intellect/openness), sociocultural factors (internalization, sociocultural pressure, information seeking), and body dissatisfaction in anorexia readiness syndrome. Methods: The study involved 1533 Polish women aged 18–36 (M = 22.51, SD = 2.41). The participants completed the online version of the set of questionnaires. The link to the study was shared in social media groups. Personality dimensions were measured with the BFI, sociocultural factors were evaluated by means of the SATAQ-3, the degree of body dissatisfaction was assessed with the BIQ, while ARS was measured using five self-reported items referring to specific behaviors from TIAE. Results: Hierarchical multiple regression analysis revealed internalization, sociocultural pressure, and body dissatisfaction as significant predictors of ARS. While neuroticism was correlated with ARS, it lost its predictive value after entering body dissatisfaction in the regression model. Conclusions: The factors associated with ARS were (1) neuroticism among personality traits, (2) internalization and pressure from sociocultural norms among sociocultural attitudes, and (3) body dissatisfaction. The key finding is the absence of statistical significance for neuroticism in predicting ARS after including body dissatisfaction. In future research, the group of men and patients with anorexia nervosa can be included, and the age range can be extended to include younger people. The catalog of potential ARS predictors may be expanded, which can help to explain the role of neuroticism in ARS. Plain English summary: Mass culture conveys a lot of information that women should use to fit the specific canon of beauty regarding the female body. Media body image standards can be absorbed by many women who may feel the pressure of having to conform to these standards. Adopting and adhering to the sociocultural ideals of beauty contributes to the development of body dissatisfaction as well as anorexia readiness syndrome (ARS) that can even lead to eating disorders under certain non-favorable circumstances in the long term. The aim of the study was to examine the contributing factors of ARS – thoughts, emotions and behaviors that may lead to diagnosable anorexia nervosa (AN). The study involved 1533 Polish women from a nonclinical population. Based on a review of the literature, possible determinants of ARS were selected: personality traits, sociocultural factors and degree of body dissatisfaction. Analyses confirmed that internalization and pressure from sociocultural norms (two sociocultural factors), and body dissatisfaction may help predict ARS. Neuroticism (personality trait) was also related to ARS. Knowledge of which factors may contribute to ARS may help in understanding how AN develops and what treatments may help prevent the illness from developing. In future research, it is also worth conducting the study on a group of patients with eating disorders and a group of men. Research on a more diverse group will help to understand the determinants of ARS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]