Concurrent and Prospective Analyses of Peer, Television and Social Media Influences on Body Dissatisfaction, Eating Disorder Symptoms and Life Satisfaction in Adolescent Girls

We inquired into the ways in which seven female participants experienced body dissatisfaction and spirituality—both as separate and as connected issues in their lives. Following a narrative analysis, we identified three main themes. The first theme involved participants' open, accepting spiritual beliefs. The second theme involved participants' struggle with body dissatisfaction, which for many was a persistent difficulty. Within this theme of body dissatisfaction, participants discussed ways this dissatisfaction was maintained and ways they were protected from engaging in eating disorder symptoms. Participants identified ways body dissatisfaction persisted, including tendencies to compare their bodies to others' bodies and assume a sense of personal responsibility for their bodies. Participants discussed beliefs in health and spiritual aspects of protection as ways they were safeguarded from eating disorder symptoms. The third theme involved participants' interpretation of a researcher inquiry about spiritual assistance with body dissatisfaction. Based on these findings, we present research and counseling implications.

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Male body dissatisfaction, eating disorder symptoms, body composition, and attentional bias to body stimuli evaluated using visual search

Journal of Experimental Psychopathology ◽

10.1177/2043808719848292 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 10 (2) ◽

pp. 204380871984829 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Daniel Talbot ◽

Evelyn Smith ◽

John Cass

Keyword(s):

Eating Disorder ◽

Visual Search ◽

Body Dissatisfaction ◽

Attentional Bias ◽

Body Fat ◽

Target Line ◽

Male Body ◽

Eating Disorder Symptoms ◽

Male Body Image ◽

The Relationship

This study investigated the relationship between body dissatisfaction, eating disorder symptoms, and attentional bias to images of male bodies using a compound visual search task. Sixty-three male participants searched for a horizontal or vertical target line among tilted lines. A separate male body image was presented within proximity to each line. Overall, search times were faster when the target line was paired with a muscular or obese body and distractor lines were paired with bodies of average muscularity and body fat ( congruent trials) than on neutral trials, in which only average muscularity and body fat images were shown. Attentional bias for muscular bodies was correlated with muscle dissatisfaction, eating restraint, and shape concern, and attentional bias for obese bodies was correlated with eating restraint. For incongruent trials, in which a single muscular or obese body was paired with a distractor line, search times were indistinguishable from neutral trials. Unexpectedly, we found a negative association between search times and both body fat dissatisfaction and eating disorder symptoms in conditions where obese bodies were paired with distracting stimuli. This result implicates a potential role for attentional filtering and/or avoidance of obese bodies in predicting body fat dissatisfaction and eating disorder symptomology.

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The Relationship between Body Dissatisfaction and Eating Disorder Symptoms in Young Women Aspiring Fashion Models: The Mediating Role of Stress

European Journal of Investigation in Health, Psychology and Education ◽

10.3390/ejihpe11020043 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (2) ◽

pp. 607-615

Author(s):

Sabrina Castellano ◽

Agostino Rizzotto ◽

Sergio Neri ◽

Walter Currenti ◽

Claudia Savia Guerrera ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Eating Disorders ◽

Eating Disorder ◽

Body Dissatisfaction ◽

Young Women ◽

Stress Level ◽

Eating Attitudes ◽

Health Concern ◽

Eating Disorder Symptoms ◽

Fashion Models ◽

The Relationship

It is widely recognized that body dissatisfaction is an important public health concern. In the past, being a fashion model was almost synonymous with anorexia/bulimia, and even today, there are cases of eating disorders in young women whose ambition is to become a top model. Moreover, stress can play a substantial role within ill health via related behaviors such as smoking, substance abuse, and inappropriate eating. In our study, we examined 112 aspiring fashion models aged between 15 and 24 years (M = 19.5, SD = 2.08) from 32 different countries of the world during an international contest, and 100 students (control group), aged between 16 and 22 years (M = 18.6, SD = 1.39). The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to examine whether stress mediated the relationship between body dissatisfaction and eating disorders. The study included the administration of stress and self-efficacy and the locus of control dimensions, body (image) dissatisfaction, and eating attitude disorder. Results indicated higher scores on body dissatisfaction, stress level, and eating attitudes disorder among the group of fashion models compared to the control. Mediational analyses showed that body dissatisfaction was partially mediated by stress level on eating disorders. Especially in the aspiring fashion models, there are often many possibilities that competitive stress causes candidates to exacerbate attempts to maintain their body weight below normal weight/height parameters. These results indicated that appropriate intervention for the management of stress level could possibly defend against the negative impact of body dissatisfaction on eating disorder symptoms. The presence of skilled health workers in the field of nutrition and psychology can be extremely important in the field of fashion to maintain an adequate quality of life.

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