| To our knowledge, this is the first prospective study to differentially predict anorexic and bulimic symptoms. The interaction of perfectionism, self-efficacy, and stress, all in specific domains was investigated in a sample of 406 female undergraduates. In the appearance domain, the combination of high perfectionism, low self-efficacy, and high stress was associated with elevated bulimic symptoms, and high stress and high self-efficacy was associated with elevated dieting scores. No significant results were found in the academic domain. High perfectionism, low self-efficacy, and high stress all in the interpersonal domain were associated with elevated bulimic symptoms when appearance self-efficacy was low but anorexic symptoms when appearance self-efficacy was high. These results suggest that appearance self-efficacy plays a crucial role in distinguishing between individuals with bulimic symptoms and individuals with anorexic symptoms. These results also demonstrate the importance of examining specific domains. |
