P0354 - Traits related to social anxiety in the eating disorders

Abstract

To determine the extent to which ED psychopathology and underlying personality traits account for social anxiety in EDs while controlling for potential confounding factors such as age, ED duration, inpatient status, body mass index, ED subtype and overall level of self-reported psychopathology.

Methods:

927 ED women completed standardized measures of social anxiety (SADS), eating behaviors (EAT-40, EDI-II, BITE), personality (TCI-R)and general psychopathology (SCL-90-R).

Results:

Regression analyses showed that EAT-40, EDI-Social insecurity and interpersonal distrust, TCI-Harm avoidance (HA) and low Reward Dependence (RD) highly explained (57%) social anxiety in this population.

Conclusions:

This is the first and largest study to date examining the specific association of social anxiety with different eating and personality characteristics in ED controlling for confounds. The importance of temperament traits such as high HA and low RD to explain the co-occurrence of both social anxiety and ED is highlighted.