Association of biological, psychological and lifestyle risk factors for eating disturbances in adolescents

© The Author(s) 2015. We aimed to assess the association of several risk factors for eating disturbances in adolescents. Participants were 448 girls and boys aged 12-15 years. Being female, higher body mass index, internalisation of standard of appearance, perfectionism, body dissatisfaction, number of lifetime addictive behaviours and lower self-esteem were associated with higher eating disturbance scores, whereas frequency of sedentary behaviours and physical activity were not (R² ≥ 41%). Findings suggest the need to guide prevention efforts towards the broad spectrum of individual potentially modifiable factors. A non-specific comprehensive perspective may be adequate to prevent problems related to weight, body image and drug use.