Sex and Body Mass Index differences after one-year follow-up of an eating disorders risk factors universal prevention intervention in university students in Mexico City

Abstract

Introduction. Interventions based on cognitive dissonance theory are the most effective for preventing eating disorders. Objective. To identify the changes at one year follow-up of a universal prevention intervention in disordered eating behaviors (DEB), thin-ideal internalization (TII), and drive for muscularity (DM). Method. A pre-experimental, pretest-posttest study was conducted on 602 university student subjects (76.1% women and 23.9% men) with an average age of 20.74 years at a public (30.6%) and a private university (69.4%) in Mexico City. A Split Plot ANOVA was performed with the intrasubject variable equal to each measurement (pretest, posttest, and follow-up), as well as the sex and body mass index (BMI) intersubject variables to analyze whether there was a significant interaction between these variables and the changes in dependent variables, as well as the changes through each measurement by group. Results. In the intrasubject analyses, statistically significant differences were found for DEB through the various measurements, without taking the interactions into account. Statistically significant interactions were observed between each measurement and BMI, and between each measurement and sex and BMI for the DM variable. Discussion and conclusion. Since a reduction of TII in women and DM in men was achieved, together with a decrease in DEB in women, the workshop can be said to have fully achieved its objectives for women and partly so for men.