Avoidance coping style and the risk of developing an eating disorder in adolescents

The first aim of this study was to analyse the relationship between coping styles and strategies in Spanish adolescents of both genders, with high and low eating disorder risk. Secondly, this study aims to examine the relation of coping styles and coping strategies with eating disorder risk. The sample comprised 2142 adolescents (1.130 girls and 1.012 boys), mean age 13,96 years (SD= 1.34). They completed the Adolescent Coping Scale (ACS) and the Eating Attitude Test (EAT-40). The results showed high use of intropunitive avoidance coping in both female and male adolescents with high EAT-40 scores. The regression analysis indicated that, in both girls and boys, the intropunitive avoidance and the tension reduction coping strategy explained a high percentage of variance of eating disorder risk. The results of this study have implications for the prevention of these behaviours in adolescents, because people with a high risk of developing an eating disorder present a maladaptive coping style before the onset of the eating disorder.