Orthorexia Nervosa Risk and Psychological Correlates in Higher-Education Dance Students

Orthorexia nervosa has been increasingly examined in performance-oriented populations; however, evidence in higher-education dance students remains limited, particularly across multiple dance disciplines and with integrated psychological assessment.

To examine orthorexia nervosa distribution among higher-education dance students across 4 disciplines (classical dance, contemporary, flamenco, and Spanish dance) and to analyse its association with psychological distress and body dissatisfaction.

A cross-sectional study was conducted with 318 students enrolled in higher-education dance programmes. Orthorexia was assessed using the ORTHO-15 and the Teruel Orthorexia Scale. Psychological distress and body dissatisfaction were measured using the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10) and the Body Shape Questionnaire-16 (BSQ-16). Group differences were analysed using one-way ANOVA and χ² tests. Associations were examined using Spearman's rank correlation coefficients. Independent predictors of orthorexia nervosa risk were identified using binary logistic regression (Forward LR), and model performance was evaluated using Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) analysis.

Orthorexia-related behaviours differed descriptively across disciplines; however, dance discipline did not independently predict orthorexia nervosa risk in the adjusted model. Orthorexia nervosa risk was strongly correlated with psychological distress (ρ = 0.802) and body dissatisfaction (ρ = 0.516). In the final regression model, psychological distress (OR = 1.316), body dissatisfaction (OR = 1.045), and sex (OR = 6.810) were independent predictors. The model demonstrated high discriminative accuracy (AUC = 0.945; 95% CI 0.916-0.975).

Orthorexia nervosa risk in higher-education dance students appears to be more closely associated with psychological vulnerability than with discipline-specific training characteristics. These findings highlight the importance of psychological monitoring and integrated health strategies within dance training environments to support student wellbeing.