Normative body dissatisfaction and eating psychopathology in teenage girls: the impact of inflexible eating rules
2016 (English)In: Eating and Weight Disorders, ISSN 1124-4909, E-ISSN 1590-1262, Vol. 21, no 1, p. 41-48Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
Adolescence has been considered a critical time for the development of body image-related difficulties and disordered eating behaviours, especially in females. Although adherence to eating rules has been linked to disordered eating, literature has not yet explored how the inflexible subscription to those rules impacts on eating psychopathology. Therefore, the aim of the current study was to explore whether inflexible eating impacts on the relationships between weight and body image-related variables, and disordered eating.
Participated in this study are 497 female adolescents from the community, aged between 14 and 18 years old, who completed self-report measures.
Results revealed that the majority of the participants were dissatisfied with their weight and body shape. Moreover, 6.64 % of the participants demonstrated severe eating psychopathology. A path analysis revealed that BMI, body dissatisfaction and social comparisons based on physical appearance impact on disordered eating behaviours, through the mechanism of inflexible adherence to eating rules. This model explained 52 % of eating psychopathology's variance.
Findings highlight the relevance of body image-related difficulties in adolescence and additionally they emphasise the importance of promoting more flexible attitudes towards eating in prevention and intervention programmes with female adolescents.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Springer, 2016. Vol. 21, no 1, p. 41-48
Keywords [en]
Body dissatisfaction, Social comparison, Eating psychopathology, Inflexible eating rules, Adolescence, Community sample, Disordered eating
National Category
Applied Psychology
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:oru:diva-109243DOI: 10.1007/s40519-015-0212-1ISI: 000371261300006Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-84959317211OAI: oai:DiVA.org:oru-109243DiVA, id: diva2:1806052
Note
Research by the author Cristiana Duarte is supported by a Ph.D. Grant (SFRH/BD/76858/2011), sponsored by FCT (Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology). Research by the author Ines A. Trindade is supported by a Ph.D. Grant (SFRH/BD/101906/2014), sponsored by FCT.
2023-10-192023-10-192023-10-27Bibliographically approved