Variables that explain disordered eating behaviors among women: the mediating role of body dissatisfaction

PURPOSE

To analyze the role of body dissatisfaction in the relationships of sociocultural influences, depression, and anxiety with disordered eating behaviors (DEB) in a sample of female Mexican university students.

METHODS

A nonrandom sample of 526 female Mexican university students aged 18 to 25 years completed the Questionnaire of Influence on the Aesthetic Model of Body Shape (CIMEC-26), the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), the Body Shape Questionnaire (BSQ-8D) and the Eating Attitudes Test (EAT-26).

RESULTS

Through the mean model (χ2/df (5, n = 526) = 7.298, p = .199; NFI = .996; CFI = .999; RMSEA = .030; SRMR = .011), body dissatisfaction was found to mediate the relationships of influence of advertising, influence of social models and anxiety with DEB (restrictive dieting and bulimia). The variable with the most direct effect on restrictive dieting and bulimia was the influence of advertising. Body dissatisfaction partially mediated this relationship, as the influence of advertising had a significant direct effect on restrictive dieting and bulimia. The final model of direct and indirect effects explained 43% and 22% of the variance in restrictive dieting and bulimia, respectively.

CONCLUSION

The present study showed that body dissatisfaction partially mediated the relationships between influence of advertising, influence of social models, and anxiety with DEB among women. Thus, these variables should be taken into account in prevention and intervention programs targeting BED.

LEVEL V

Evidence obtained from a cross-sectional descriptive study.

LEVEL V

Evidence obtained from a cross-sectional descriptive study.

Validity of an Instrument to Detect Cheating Confirmed by the Elicited Emotional Reactions

Cheating forms part of a complex emotional and cognitive process. However, although a relatively mundane phenomenon, instruments to evaluate cheating and its effects socially are scarce. This paper presents a five-stage approach aimed at providing validity to an instrument designed to assess cheating — specifically, its detection, and emotional reactions towards it once detected. An instrument was designed after (1) reviewing the relevant literature on cheating, in order to (2) design a bank of stimuli, (3) formulate a Delphi panel to judge the most coherent and pertinent ones, and (4) perform three pilot studies to adjust the final version of the instrument. Results from Stages 1 to 4 show that content validity was achieved for the Instrument for Detecting Cheating and its Emotional Reactions (INDETRAE, in Spanish: Instrumento para la Detección de Trampa y sus Reacciones Emocionales). Stimuli were grouped into five categories of 18 different scenarios, for a total of 90 vignettes: meaning, the INDETRAE is a 5-category, vignette-based questionnaire consisting of contrasting social cost-benefit scenarios, where the cheating situation affects an undefined, a first or a third person, and also a neutral category with no cheating. In Stage 5, several chi-squared tests (p < 0.0005) revealed significant differences between categories, proving that the instrument can indeed be used to detect cheating and to identify differentiated emotional reactions – for example, anger when there was detriment to a third person as opposed to neutral situations, or glad when there was a case of cheating which benefited the first person. The last stage counts as the first approximation to support construct validity of the INDETRAE. The most important contribution of this work consists in developing an instrument to detect cheating, confirmed by the resulting emotional reactions, which therefore demonstrate its validity.

Children with obesity: peer influence as a predictor of body dissatisfaction

PURPOSE

To analyze self-esteem, as well as the different peer influence components (messages, interactions and likability) as predictors of body dissatisfaction in children with obesity.

METHOD

A total of 123 children aged between 10 and 12 years were divided into two groups according to their body mass index. The group with obesity was comprised of 36 boys and 21 girls and the group with normal weight of 32 boys and 34 girls. All of the participants answered the Body Shape Questionnaire-16, the Inventory of Peer Influence on Eating Concerns, and the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale.

RESULTS

The hierarchical multiple regression analysis for each group showed that likability and peer messages explain 67% of the body dissatisfaction variance in children with obesity and 54% in children with normal weight.

CONCLUSION

Peer influence predicted body dissatisfaction in children; however, children with obesity assimilate messages from their peers differently compared with children with normal weight.

Body dissatisfaction and socio-cultural factors in women with and without BED: their relation with eating psychopathology

The goal of the present study was to assess the role of body dissatisfaction and socio-cultural factors on eating psychopathology in women with Binge Eating Disorder (BED) and women without BED. Seventy obese women consecutively evaluated participated: 35 with BED and 35 without BED who attended for the first time in a weight loss program. All participants completed a battery of questionnaires, including: Body Shape Questionnaire, Questionnaire of Influences on the Aesthetic Body Shape Model, Questionnaire on Eating and Weight Patterns, Three Factor Eating Questionnaire, and they were interviewed with the Interview for the Diagnosis of Eating Disorder-IV. The Body Mass Index, Waist-to-Hip Ratio and Body Fat were calculated. The results showed that 21% of obese women who participated in a weight reduction program met BED criteria. The scores of body dissatisfaction, influences of socio-cultural factors and eating psychopathology were higher in women with BED compared with women without BED. In the same way, significantly stronger correlations were found among influences of socio-cultural factors, specifically, influence of advertisement, social relations and eating psychopathology in women with BED than women without BED. It is concluded that the high body dissatisfaction as well as stronger associations among influence of socio-cultural factors and eating psychopathology could play an important role in women with BED.