The relationship of “Thought Action Fusion” and “Thought Shape Fusion” with eating attitudes

The aim of this  study is to investigate the relationship of  thought action fusion (TAF) and thought shape fusion (TSF) with eating attitudes among non-clinical university student sample. For this purpose, Maudsley Obsesif Compulsive Inventory, Beck Depression Inventory, Thought Shape Fusion Scale, Thought Action Fusion Scale,  and The Eating Attitude Test-40 were given  to 486 students at Hacettepe University. For the first part of the study, TSFS was translated into Turkish, reliability and validity studies were completed. The reliability and validity analyses of the Turkish version of the scale indicated that the TSFS had adequate psychometric properties in the Turkish sample. Then, the main analyses of the study has been performed. 

According to the results of ANOVA, if the eating attitudes of the university students differ, the thought action fusion also differs, but no significant effect of gender is observed. It is also observed that individuals having pathological eating attitudes showed more TAF charactersistics in comparison with the ones having less pathological eating attitudes. When statistically controlling the effects of depressive and obsessive symptoms, it has also been found that males have shown more TAF in moral dimension in comparison with females.

As for TSF, a significant difference has been observed among the individuals with different eating attitude. More TSF have been found  for the individuals having pathological eating attitudes than the ones having less pathological eating attitudes. It has also been observed that this effect has remained when controlling the effects of OKB and depression symptoms. When controlling the effects of depression and obsessive symptoms, the difference  of TSF among the individuals with different eating attitudes shows that TSF has a relation with eating attitudes and is peculiar to eating attitudes or disorders. The regression analyses has shown that the OKB symptoms are the best predictors of the TSF.