Disordered Eating Attitudes in Hungarian Adults: Body Image, Sociocultural Media Pressures, and the Cross-Gender...

Background/Objectives: Appearance ideals are increasingly transmitted through digital media, reshaping the sociocultural context in which disordered eating develops. Central and Eastern European populations remain underrepresented in this literature. This study examined the prevalence of disordered eating attitudes in a Hungarian adult community sample and tested an integrated model of body image disturbance and media-transmitted sociocultural pressures as statistical predictors, including formal tests of mediation. Methods: Hungarian adults (N = 675; 70.8% female; aged 16-81 years, M = 44.09) completed the Eating Attitudes Test-26 (EAT-26), the Body Attitude Test (BAT), and the Sociocultural Attitudes Towards Appearance Questionnaire-3 (SATAQ-3) in an online survey; body mass index (BMI) was calculated from self-reported height and weight. All instruments demonstrated good to excellent internal consistency in the present sample (Cronbach's α = 0.84-0.93). Results: One in five participants (20.7%) scored at or above the EAT-26 clinical cut-off, with elevated rates at both extremes of the BMI spectrum (underweight: 30.0%; obese: 28.4%). Women scored higher than men on the EAT-26 (d = -0.59), BAT (d = -0.80), and three SATAQ-3 subscales; no gender difference emerged for athletic-ideal internalisation (d = -0.02), consistent with a cross-gender athletic ideal. The predictor set accounted for 40.5% of the variance in EAT-26 scores; BAT was the dominant predictor (β = 0.61), while SATAQ-3 Athletic retained a direct path (β = 0.08), and the remaining media-influence subscales lost significance once body image was controlled. A binary logistic regression using these predictors correctly classified 83.6% of participants (Nagelkerke R² = 0.35), with BAT and athletic-ideal internalisation again the only significant predictors of clinical-range classification. Bootstrapped mediation analyses confirmed that the associations between sociocultural influences and disordered eating attitudes were largely mediated by body image disturbance; only athletic-ideal internalisation retained a significant direct association (partial mediation). Conclusions: Body image disturbance constitutes the proximal core of disordered eating attitudes, whereas internalisation of the athletic ideal shows a small independent association, with implications for screening and prevention across the adult lifespan.