The Relationship between Eating Disorder Symptoms and Social Anxiety Disorder in Students in Isfahan

Introduction Eating disorder symptoms and social anxiety can be occurring in the same time. Also social anxiety is one of the important factors predicting eating disorder symptoms which vary among different cultures and countries. The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between eating disorder symptoms and social anxiety in school students. Materials and Methods This was a cross-sectional study on 361 high school boys in Isfahan, who were selected through two-step random sampling. The students completed a questionnaire concerning demographic characteristics, eating disorder questionnaire and social anxiety. Data were analyzed by the statistical tests of Pearson correlation coefficient, Student's t-test, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), and regression through SPSS version 14. Results Based on the findings, the mean and SD value for age was(14.14 +/- 1.2) years and for Body mass index (BMI) was (23.25 +/- 0.3). Result showed 35.2% had eating disorder and 17.5% bulimia and 30% had anorexia nervosa symptoms. Also there was a positive correlation between the rate of eating disorder symptoms, bulimia and anorexia nervosa and social anxiety (P = 0.004, r = 0.287, P= 0.001, r= 0.257, P= 0.020, r = 0.242). Conclusions There was correlation between the eating disorder symptoms and social anxiety in students. So educating people like caregivers by community health midwives regarding nutritional problems in during adolescence can be effective in early diagnosing and identifying such disorders.