Disordered eating is a predictor of clinical eating disorders, which have an increasing prevalence nowadays. Thus, it is important to understand risk and protective factors for the prevention of...Show moreDisordered eating is a predictor of clinical eating disorders, which have an increasing prevalence nowadays. Thus, it is important to understand risk and protective factors for the prevention of disordered eating. It has been shown that sex hormones affect eating behaviour, but research on how eating behaviour may be affected by hormonal contraceptives is scarce. However, self-esteem has been shown to be one of the main predictors or disordered eating in several studies. The association between hormonal contraception and self-esteem is less understood. The hypothesis of the study is that hormonal contraception is positively related to disordered eating and possibly mediated/moderated by self-esteem. To test this, a sample of 760 female participants filled out the Rosenberg Self-Esteem questionnaire, SCOFF and answered questions regarding their contraceptive use. A mediation analysis found out that there is no direct relationship, but a mediated one. In a moderation analysis a significant interaction between hormonal contraception and self-esteem has been found. This suggests that people taking hormonal contraceptives and having lower levels of self-esteem are potentially at a higher risk of developing disordered eating. Future research should focus on examining the different types of hormonal contraceptives and exogenous sex hormones, since this study was not able to make a differentiation.Show less
