Body image flexibility moderates the association between disordered eating cognition and disordered eating behavior in a non-clinical sample of women: A cross-sectional investigation

Background: Vast changing environment and culture including mass media which commonly shows models with a very slim body may cause teenage girls feel fatty and not confident despite their normal body weight. This misperception may influence eating behavior and encourage them to lose weight by involving in some instant diets, for example, fad diets.Objective: To identify relationships between body image distortion, eating behavior, and fad diets among female adolescents in Yogyakarta.Method: This study was a cross-sectional study on 123 school girls at SMAN 8 Yogyakarta who have normal body mass index (BMI) according to WHO category. Body image distortion and eating behavior were evaluated using the Body Image Assesment-Body Dimension (BIAS-BD), and the Eating Attitude Test (EAT)-26, respectively. Fad diets were assessed using a questionnaire adapted from Hana (10) and Rafiqa (11). The hypotheses were tested using chi-square test and Spearman’s correlations.Results: As many as 105 girls (85.4%) showed body image distortion and 15 girls (12.2%) were at risks for having disordered eating behavior. Among 51 girls (42.5%) who experienced or tried to lose weight, 47 girls (92.2%) were practicing fad diets. There was no significant association between body image distortion and disordered eating behavior, nor between body image distortion and fad diets. However, disordered eating behavior was significantly associated with fad diets with OR = 7,077 (p<0.05).Conclusion: There was a significant relationship (p<0.05) between disordered eating behavior and fad diets, however, no significant association was found between body image distortion and disordered eating behavior, and between body image distortion and fad diets among female adolescents in Yogyakarta.

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The Association between Disordered Eating Behavior and Body Image Biological Maturation and Levels of Adipocytokines in Preadolescent Girls: The Healthy Growth Study

Women ◽

10.3390/women1040015 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 1 (4) ◽

pp. 169-180

Author(s):

Emilia Vassilopoulou ◽

Vasilios Tsironis ◽

Eva Karaglani ◽

Katerina Sarapis ◽

Emmanouela Vasileiadi ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Body Image ◽

Disordered Eating ◽

Eating Behavior ◽

Eating Behaviors ◽

Eating Attitudes ◽

Hormonal Changes ◽

Growth Study ◽

Cognitive Changes ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Healthy Growth

During puberty, rapid, complex hormonal, physical and cognitive changes occur that affect body image and eating behavior. The aim of this cross-sectional study, a secondary analysis of data from the Greek Healthy Growth Study, was to explore associations of disordered eating behaviors and body image in 1206 10–12-year-old girls during pubertal maturation, with serum leptin and adiponectin levels, according to body mass index (BMI). Eating behavior and disordered eating were assessed with the Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire (DEBQ) and the Children Eating Attitudes Test Questionnaire (ChEAT), respectively. Associations of components of DEBQ and ChEAT with maturation according to Tanner Stage (TS) and levels of leptin and adiponectin were explored by univariate and multivariate regression analysis. Adiponectin levels in girls at TS 1 were positively associated with the “social pressure to eat” score of ChEAT. Leptin levels in girls at TS 4 were positively correlated with the “restraint eating” score of DEBQ, and the “dieting”, “body image” and “food awareness” scores of ChEAT. After adjustment for TS and BMI, only “body image” and leptin remained significant. Further research may shed light on how these hormonal changes affect eating behaviors at various pubertal stages, contributing to “TS-specific” preventive strategies for eating disorders in girls.

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Eating Disorders and Intrasexual Competition: Testing an Evolutionary Hypothesis among Young Women

The Scientific World JOURNAL ◽

10.1100/2012/290813 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 2012 ◽

pp. 1-8 ◽

Cited By ~ 21

Author(s):

Riadh Abed ◽

Sunil Mehta ◽

Aurelio José Figueredo ◽

Sarah Aldridge ◽

Hannah Balson ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Eating Disorders ◽

Disordered Eating ◽

Eating Behavior ◽

Structural Equation ◽

Clinical Sample ◽

Intrasexual Competition ◽

Equation Model ◽

Sexual Competition ◽

Ultimate Cause ◽

Disordered Eating Behavior

The sexual competition hypothesis (SCH) contends that intense female intrasexual competition (ISC) is the ultimate cause of eating disorders. The SCH explains the phenomenon of the pursuit of thinness as an adaptation to ISC in the modern environment. It argues that eating disorders are pathological phenomena that arise from the mismatch between the modern environment and the inherited female adaptations for ISC. The present study has two aims. The first is to examine the relationship between disordered eating behavior (DEB) and ISC in a sample of female undergraduates. The second is to establish whether there is any relationship between disordered eating behavior and life history (LH) strategy. Participants completed a battery of questionnaires examining eating-related attitudes and behaviors, ISC, and LH strategy. A group of 206 female undergraduates were recruited. A structural equation model was constructed to analyze the data. ISC for mates was significantly associated with DEB, as predicted by the SCH. DEB was found to be predicted by fast LH strategy, which was only partially mediated by the SCH. The results of this study are supportive of the SCH and justify research on a clinical sample.

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