The impact of stress intensity and ways of coping with it on the risk of eating disorders among polish students during the exam session

Abstract

Purpose: Eating disorders can affect all age groups, but most often they affect young people. Stressful situations such as an exam session very often exacerbate this prob-lem. Appropriate coping strategies can be a solution for people struggling with eating disorders. Methods: 500 polish students of various faculties were surveyed using the EAT-26 (Eating Attitudes Test-26) questionnaire, Mini-COPE (Coping Orientation to Problems Experienced inventory) and PSS 10 (The Perceived Stress Scale 10). The study was conducted during the examination session to recreate the stress conditions. Re-sults: The analysis showed that higher levels of stress were significantly associated with an increased risk of eating disorders, particularly in the dieting domain, with p=0.004. Coping strategies played a significant role, with substance use positively cor-related with increased risk (p<0.000001), while seeking instrumental and emotional support was negatively associated (p=0.0001). Conclusion: Stress levels were positively correlated with the likelihood of developing an eating disorder. Eating disorders are strongly linked to stress coping strategies. It should be considered whether teaching students relaxation techniques and methods of coping with stress could significantly reduce the incidence of eating disorders. The above-mentioned factors are related to gender, age, place of residence, year of study and field of study.