PERFECTIONISM AND DEVIATION FROM EATING HABITS IN WOMEN: PREDICTORS OF EXERCISE ADDICTION

Introduction Business educators are the operators of business education programme in any institution of higher learning. They transform the business education curricula into reality in all level of education including universities. According to Osuala (2004), a business educator is anyone who plays a critical role in making business education viable and visible in the community, plays a crucial role as a force for change in business education, provides AbstractThe aim of this cross-sectional study was to examine the relative contribution of predictors of perfectionism dimensions (personal standards, concern about mistakes, parental expectations and complaints, self-doubt and organization) to the variance of the criterion (exercise addiction). The online survey included pertinent sample (N = 314) of female participants aged 18 to 30, from the territory of the Republic of Serbia. The average age of the participants was (Myears = 24.15, SD = 2.63). The following measuring instruments were applied: Exercise Dependence Scale (EDS-21), Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (MPS-F), and Eating Attitudes Test (EAT-26). The calculated Cronbach's (α) coefficients showed reliable internal consistency, which suggests that the instruments used can be operationalized on the Serbian population. The findings of hierarchical regression analyses, with a significance level (p ≤ 0.05 or p ≤ 0.01) and 28% of explained variance, signaled that the perceived independent variables: personal standards, self-doubt, organization, and diet were effective determinants of the exercise addiction construct. The theoretical contributions and practical implications of the results in the female population, as well as methodological limitations and suggestions for future longitudinal research, are interpreted in this paper.