The purpose of this study was to make a comprehensive investigation of the personality and sociocultural factors that affect eating disorders. A total of 321 adolescent and young adult females completed a questionnaire which included questions about thinness-oriented culture and sense of gender roles in order to examine sociocultural factors. Also, for analysis of personality factors, the questionnaire asked about self-esteem and interdependent self-concept. Results of the questionnaire supported the following hypotheses: Interdependent self-contrual with excessive emphasis on adjusting oneself to the sociocultural standards lowered self-esteem and tended to cause eating disorder symptoms. These results also supported the notion that sociocultural factors such as thinness-oriented culture and gender roles affected eating disorder symptoms, and that personality factors that would make the person vulnerable to the effects of sociocultural factors could also be examined empirically.

Key words: eating disorders, sociocultural influence, over-adaptation