People with narcissistic traits could be at higher risk of body image issues and eating disorders

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2023-11-10 06:00

Australia; International; NSW

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People with narcissistic traits could be more likely to have body image concerns, and by extension be at risk of an eating disorder, according to Australian and international researchers. The team recruited 430 people and asked them to complete three personality tests to identify narcissistic traits such as 'go-getter' type extraversion, antagonism, and exhibitionism/entitlement. The participants then completed four tests designed to measure someone's drive to look muscular or thin and identify if they are likely to have an eating disorder. The researcher say excluding leadership/authority, all other narcissistic traits they measured were associated with a drive to be thin and muscular, and associated with more eating disorder symptoms.

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Journal/
conference: PLOS ONE

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: The University of Sydney, Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw, Poland

Funder: The first and the fourth author were fully and partially, respectively, funded by a grant from the National Science Centre of Poland (2019/35/B/ HS6/00682). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

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