Disordered eating and BMI predict negative body image

Introduction

It is known that negative body image can cause significant emotional distress for an individual and thus lead to lower subjective well-being. Previous research has shown that both disordered eating and body mass are connected to negative body image.

Objectives

To examine how disordered eating and BMI can predict different aspects of body image.

Methods

A sample of 180 healthy respondents (152 Female, 28 Male, mean age 22,62±7,35) were recruited in Moscow. Disordered eating was measured by Eating Attitude Test (EAT-26; Garner D. et al., 1982), body image was measured by Multidimensional Body-Self Relations Questionnaire (MBSRQ; Cash T. F., 1990). Body mass index (BMI) was calculated on the basis of self-reported data (height and weight). Multiple linear regression analysis was performed in IBM SPSS Statistics 22.0.

Results

Regression model with both predictors determined self-classified weight (SCW; R2=0,569, p<0,0001), overweight preoccupation (OWP; R2=0,497, p<0,0001), body areas satisfaction (BASS; R2=0,259, p<0,0001), and appearance evaluation (R2 = 0,229, p<0,0001), but only disordered eating symptoms predicted appearance (R2 = 0,193, p<0,0001) and health (R2 = 0,036, p<0,05) orientation, and none of the predictors affected fitness or health evaluation and fitness orientation.

Conclusions

Symptoms of disordered eating and body mass index in normal population can predict self-evaluation of one`s appearance as less attractive, body size as bigger and weight as heavier. Only symptoms of disordered eating predicted higher extent of investment in one’s appearance and health. And neither IBM, nor disordered eating predicted self-evaluation of one`s health and fitness or the extent of investment in fitness.

Emotional eating as a risk factor for body image and life satisfaction

Introduction

Previous studies have shown that emotional eating is associated with binge eating disorder, body image disturbances and depression.

Objectives

In this study we wanted to find out if there is a relationship between emotional eating and body image and life satisfaction in non-clinical sample.

Methods

The study involved 182 normal participants (153 Female, 29 Male, mean age 22,6 ± 7,3), which were recruited in Moscow, Russia. Emotional eating was measured by the opposite pole of Eating for Physical Rather Than Emotional Reasons subscale of Intuitive Eating Scale-2 (IES-2), body image was measured by Multidimensional Body-Self Relations Questionnaire (MBSRQ), Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS) was used to measure the corresponding construct. Correlation analysis was performed in IBM SPSS Statistics 22.0.

Results

Emotional eating was associated with the following MBSRQ subscales: lower appearance evaluation (-0,431, p<0,0001), lower body areas satisfaction (-0,335, p<0,0001), as well as lower fitness evaluation (-0,208, p=0,005) and lower health evaluation (-0,182, p=0,014), but higher overweight preoccupation (0,279, p=0,0001) and overestimation of body weight (0,362, p<0,0001). It was also connected to lower satisfaction with life (-0,195, p=0,008).

Conclusions

The results of the study allow us to conclude that emotional eating may pose risks to psychological health of a normal individual. It was shown that emotional eating is connected to negative evaluation of one`s body appearance, fitness and health state, weight and shape concerns, and even to the lower level of satisfaction with one’s life.

Multisensory mechanisms of body perception in somatoform disorders

OBJECTIVE

According to one of the hypotheses, somatoform disorders (SD) are related to disturbed perception of bodily signals. We suspect that the disturbances and abnormalities of multisensory integration dynamics may be an additional SD mechanism. The objective of the research was to investigate multisensory bodily illusion dynamics in SD patients.

METHODS

A clinical group of SD patients (n = 16) and a control group (n = 17) participated in experiments aimed at eliciting a visual-tactile rubber hand illusion (RHI) and a visual-kinesthetic virtual hand illusion (VHI).

RESULTS

For both illusions studied, the illusion dynamics in SD patients differed from those of healthy subjects. The visual-tactile illusion on the subjective level appeared to be less strong in SD patients, and no proprioceptive drift (PD) was detected. The subjective dynamics of the visual-kinesthetic illusion in patients were similar to those of the control group, but the PD dynamics were different: after the termination of stimuli from the artificial limb, the proprioceptive system did not return to its initial state; on the contrary, PD continued to increase.

CONCLUSION

In comparison with the norm, patients with somatoform disorders display differences in multisensory mechanisms underlying the development of body perception. The results suggest that the disturbance of visual-tactile integration of the stimuli represents one of the mechanisms of body perception distortion in somatoform disorders. It may be assumed that one of the reasons for persistent symptom perception in SD patients is the rigidity of multisensory stimuli perception, at least in the visual-motor domain.

Values and Fears: Value Priorities and Fear of Health Impairments

The evaluation of health states is involved in a patient’s medical decision making. This evaluation includes cognitive and affective components. The affective component of this evaluation may include the emotion of fear. For instance, some health states are more frightening than others. However, it is not yet known why. The present study investigates the link between the fear of health impairments and individual value priorities. Participants evaluated 14 health impairments from most to least frightening and selected three valued goals which could be lost in the event of those previously evaluated health states. Participants also answered the Schwarz’s Values Survey. The results confirm that value preferences are related to the fear of different health states. From one side, this link is related to personal importance of value priorities: the most frightening health states are associated with the loss of preferred value goals. From another side, this link is related to value types: the more a health state is associated with a loss of security and self-direction, the more frightening it is; the more a health state is associated with a loss of hedonism and universalism, the less frightening it is. Overall, the study showed that affective evaluation of negative health states, particularly, fear of negative health states, is related to value preferences.

Somatoform Symptoms’ Influence on the Rubber Hand Illusion: Additional Analysis

Introduction

In the rubber hand illusion (RHI) [1], sense of body ownership is changed by synchronous touches to the hidden participant's hand and a visible rubber hand. It was previously shown [2] that medically unexplained symptoms were associated with the weaker RHI (n = 40).

Objectives

We used data from our previous research [3] and supplementary questionnaires to test the hypothesis that somatoform symptoms would be associated with the decreased response to RHI.

Methods

Subjects (n = 78) voluntarily undergo the following procedures: RHI experiment with measurement of proprioceptive drift and self-reports, Screening for Somatoform Disorders (SOMS-2) and Symptom Check List-90-Revised (the “somatization scale”).

Results

Robust regression was used to evaluate predictors influence: Drift/Self-reports∼SOMS-2 + somatization. SOMS-2 was a significant predictor for proprioceptive drift with positive coefficient (P < 0.05, adjusted), both predictors were insignificant for self-reports.

Conclusions

Thus, the results of [2] were not reproduced. We demonstrated on the larger sample, that the higher somatoform symptoms (scores of SOMS-2) predicted the stronger RHI. Since our research and [2] had been conducted on non-clinical groups, it is necessary to conduct the critical experiment on the clinical population.

The reported study was funded by RFBR according to the research project No.16-36-00394.

Disclosure of interest

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.