La première année d’université est souvent vécue par les étudiants comme une période stressante, pendant laquelle ils peuvent présenter divers troubles, alimentaires en particulier. L’objectif de cette recherche était de tester l’invariance sexuelle d’un modèle prospectif mettant en jeu le stress et l’adaptabilité universitaires, le coping, l’image du corps, l’indice de masse corporelle et les TCA mesurés à deux reprises dans un intervalle d’un an auprès d’un échantillon d’étudiants intégrant l’université. Les résultats d’une analyse multigroupes montrent que les TCA sont associés à un mauvais ajustement à cette première année et ce de façon différente chez les filles et les garçons. Il serait nécessaire de dépister précocement les étudiants « à risques » afin de réduire l’aggravation de ces troubles.

There is increasing use of the phrase “campus eating symptoms” to describe regular binge eating (together with frequent exercise, and occasional reliance on vomiting or laxatives), concerns about body image, depressive symptoms, stress, and university adjustment problems among students. Incidence of eating disorders in the early grades of university is increasing, and the period from age 17–19 years (peak of bulimia) which corresponds to the beginning of study at university is critical. Given the stressful environment that is the 1st academic year, it is useful to consider eating disorders risk factors.

Our study is longitudinal. At the beginning, the participants consisted of 1110 freshmen. Data regarding adjustment to university, gender, body image, BMI, transactional variables (perceived stress and coping) and eating disorders (EAT-26) were collected. At T2 (end of academic year), 556 students were recruited to reassess their eating behaviours. The aim of the study was to test gender invariance of a theoretical eating disorders model including all these variables and eating disorders measured a year apart from a mixed population integrating the university for the first times. This model assumes that these variables exert direct effects on eating disorders as measured in time one who in turn will affect the stability of these troubles a year later. Although very little research include boys in the study of eating disorders, the results of our multi-group analysis support the idea of the existence of sex differences in eating disorder predictors: the only common predictor of eating disorders among girls and boys was the use emotion-focused coping. Among boys, the best predictors of eating disorders were problem-focused coping, and seeking social support. Among girls, our results revealed that body mass index, body image, and academic adjustment and stress were the predictors of eating disorders. Finally, we found a temporal stability of eating disorders. This study showed that personal and contextual aspects have a direct impact on students’ eating behaviour. However, among boys, neither body image nor perceived stress affect the eating behaviour but how they cope with stress. The gender gap in the explanation of eating disorders suggest to not exclude the male population in this type of study and to treat the data separately.