Revue européenne de psychologie appliquée 63 (2013) 323–334 Disponible en ligne sur www.sciencedirect.com Original article Psychosocial moderators of the relationship between body dissatisfaction and symptoms of eating disorders: A look at a sample of young Italian women Variables psychosociales modérant la relation entre insatisfaction corporelle et symptomatologie des troubles des conduites alimentaires : une étude sur un échantillon de jeunes femmes italiennes A. Dakanalis a,∗,b , M.A. Zanetti a , G. Riva c,d , M. Clerici e,f a Department of Brain and Behavioral Sciences, University of Pavia, P.za Botta 11, 27100 Pavia, Italy b Faculty of Psychology, University Vita-Salute San Raffaele of Milan, Milan, Italy c Faculty of Psychology, Catholic University of Milan, Milan, Italy d Istituto Auxologico Italiano, Milan, Italy e Department of Neurosciences and Biomedical Technologies, University of Milano Bicocca, Milan, Italy f S. Gerardo Hospital Mental Health Care Trust, Monza, Italy a r t i c l e i n f o Article history: Received 31 August 2012 Received in revised form 1 st July 2013 Accepted 1 st August 2013 Keywords: Moderators Body dissatisfaction Eating disorders Women a b s t r a c t Introduction. – Various psychosocial variables may affect the strength of the relationship between body image dissatisfaction and women’s eating disorder symptomatology. Objective. – Informed by Tylka (2004) and Brannan and Petrie (2011) research, the current study examined body surveillance and self-esteem as well as three additional theoretically relevant variables (social interaction anxiety, internalization of media ideals and attachment anxiety) as potential moderators of this relationship. Method. – A cross-sectional design was used. A sample of 538 young Italian women completed self-report questionnaires. Results. – Hierarchical moderated regression indicated that self-esteem buffered the deleterious effects of body dissatisfaction, whereas social interaction anxiety, body surveillance, internalization of media ideals and attachment anxiety intensified the primary body dissatisfaction-eating disorder symptomatology relationship. Conclusion. – Several risk and protective factors were found to interact with body dissatisfaction to influ- ence its relation to women’s eating disorder symptomatology. Practical implications and directions for future research are discussed. © 2013 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved. Mots clés : Variables modératrices Insatisfaction corporelle Troubles des conduites alimentaires Femmes r é s u m é Introduction. – Plusieurs variables psychosociales peuvent affecter la force de la relation entre l’insatisfaction à l’égard de l’image corporelle et la symptomatologie des troubles des conduites alimen- taires chez les femmes. Objectifs. – Inspirée par les recherches de Tylka (2004) et de Branann et Petrie (2011), la présente étude a examiné la surveillance de son corps et l’estime de soi, ainsi que trois variables additionnelles théorique- ment significatives (l’anxiété d’interaction sociale, l’internalisation des idéaux véhiculés par les médias, un style d’attachement marqué par de l’anxiété) en tant que variables modératrices potentielles de la relation entre insatisfaction à l’égard de son corps et troubles alimentaires. Méthode. – Cette étude transversale porte sur un échantillon de 538 jeunes femmes italiennes qui ont rempli une série de questionnaires auto-administrés. ∗ Corresponding author. E-mail address: antonios.dakanalis@unipv.it (A. Dakanalis). 1162-9088/$ – see front matter © 2013 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.erap.2013.08.001