Comparison of Personality Traits and Defensive Styles in Female Students with Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder

Subject Areas : Psychology of couples

Negin Habibi ¹ , Rojin Bahramifar ²

1 - Corresponding author): MA in Clinical Psychology, Islamic Azad University, Hamedan, Iran Email: [e-mail]
2 - MA in Clinical Psychology, Islamic Azad University, Hamedan, Iran

Received: 2025-04-05 Accepted : 2025-05-19 Published : 2025-06-16

Keywords: ARFID, Eating Disorders, Defensive Styles, Personality Traits,

Abstract :

© 2020 The Author(s). This work is published by family and health as an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/). Non-commercial uses of the work are permitted, provided the original work is properly cited.

 

Introduction: Obesity and overweight are caused by unhealthy lifestyles, and for this reason, people have become very interested in following a healthy lifestyle. One of the results of this interest is people's adherence to various dietary regimens, which are sometimes closely related to illness and eating disorders, and various factors such as perfectionism, personality traits, defensive styles, and body dissatisfaction can be effective in the development, severity, and type of eating disorder. Therefore, this study was conducted with the aim of Comparison of Personality Traits and Defensive Styles in Female Students with Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder.

Research Method: In this causal comparative study, 62 students from the Islamic Azad University, Hamedan Branch, who reported having avoidant or restrictive eating disorder, were selected using convenience sampling method in the fall of 2024, and 62 students who did not follow a specific diet and were as similar as possible to the study group in terms of demographic variables were selected as the comparison group. Both groups were asked to respond to the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (1975) and the Andrews Defense Styles Questionnaire (1993). The data were analyzed using the multivariate analysis of variance statistical method using SPSS version 25 software.

Results: The results of the study showed that the average scores of students with avoidant or restrictive eating disorder were higher than those of other groups of students in the variables of underdeveloped defense styles, neuroticism, and personality traits of neuroticism and extraversion, and they scored lower in the variable of developed defense styles.

Conclusion: Based on the results of this study, it can be said that there is a significant difference between students with avoidant or restrictive eating disorder and other students in defensive styles and personality traits.

References:

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