What is the relationship between body mass index and eating disorder symptomatology in professional female fashion models?

Ralph‐Nearman, Christina; Khalsa, Sahib S.; Feusner, Jamie D.; Filik, Ruth

doi:10.1016/j.psychres.2020.113358

Cited by 11 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…First of all, post hoc comparisons showed that the aspiring fashion models had significantly higher body dissatisfaction index, perceived stress, and risk of eating attitude disorder, and lower self-efficacy and internal locus of control than athletes and controls; moreover, they reported a BMI below 18, the cut-off for under-nutrition. Similarly, previous studies [ 41 , 42 , 43 , 55 ] reported that an elevated body image dissatisfaction and poor self-efficacy were related to health-related effects, such as stressor symptoms and greater risk of clinical eating disorders, in a sample of fashion models, compared to their peers. Social factors, such as the constant exposure to media images or the constant pressure to maintain a thin shape, can also contribute to the unhealthy lifestyle.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 53%

The Influence of Self-Efficacy and Locus of Control on Body Image: A Path-Analysis in Aspiring Fashion Models, Athletes and Students

Corrado

Coco

Guarnera

et al. 2021

IJERPH

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It is widely documented that negative body image is a significant public health concern due to its association with symptoms of disordered eating and worse psychological well-being. The purpose of the study was to develop a path model of intrapersonal dimensions (self-efficacy and internal locus of control) as antecedents of perceived stress toward females’ body dissatisfaction and eating attitude disorders. A total of 300 females, including 100 aspiring fashion models, 100 athletes and 100 students (controls), between 15 and 24 years of age (M = 19.6, SD = 1.85) participated in the study. Measures included level of psychological stress, self-efficacy and locus of control dimensions, body dissatisfaction and eating attitude disorder indices. A path analysis confirmed our research hypothesis. Comparing the three subsamples, we found better fit indexes in the two subgroups with elevated investment on their body image with respect the control group. More specifically, the model in the group of aspiring fashion models showed the best fit index. These results indicated that aspiring fashion models have a strong desire to maintain their low body mass or to become thinner. For this reason, a suitable involvement of expert health workers in the nutritional and psychological field could be extremely essential in the fashion world to maintain a healthier well-being.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 53%

The Influence of Self-Efficacy and Locus of Control on Body Image: A Path-Analysis in Aspiring Fashion Models, Athletes and Students

Corrado

Coco

Guarnera

et al. 2021

IJERPH

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show abstract

“…Furthermore, in Experiment 2, a larger mismatch effect in total reading times for Region 3 (the text immediately following the emotion word) in body-related texts was associated with participants' higher BMI. These findings support those from other studies that report a positive association between higher BMI and more eating disorder symptoms (e.g., Ralph-Nearman et al, 2020;Rø et al, 2012;Stice et al, 2002), as well as the relationship between BMI and attentional biases (e.g., Gao, et al, 2013).…”

Section: Effects Relating To Body Imagesupporting

confidence: 91%

An eye-tracking study examining the relationship between males’ eating disorder symptomatology, body mass index, and expectations about character behaviour in text

Ralph‐Nearman

Hooper

Filik

2021

Cognition and Emotion

Self Cite

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Eating disorder prevalence is increasing in males, perhaps more rapidly than in females.Theorists have proposed that cognitive biases are important factors underpinning disordered eating, especially those related to food, body, and perfectionism. We investigated these factors in relation to males' eating disorder symptomatology in the general population by using eye-tracking during reading as a novel and implicit measure. 180 males' eye movements were monitored while they read scenarios (thirdperson in Experiment 1 (n=90, 18-38(Mage=21.50, SD=3.65)); second-person in Experiment 2 (n=90, 18-35(Mage=20.50, SD=2.22)) describing characters' emotional responses (e.g., upset) to food-, body image-, and perfectionism-related events.Participants' eating disorder symptomatology was then assessed, and body mass index (BMI) was calculated. Results showed processing of characters' emotional responses (detected via eye-tracking) to body-and perfectionism-related events for third-person scenarios was related to eating disorder symptomatology. Processing of characters' emotional responses to body-related events for second-person scenarios was related to males' BMI. The moment-to-moment processing of characters' emotional responses to food-related scenarios was not related to eating disorder symptomatology or BMI.Findings support theories that include body-and perfectionism-related cognitive biases as underlying mechanisms of eating disorder symptomatology and the use of implicit measures of cognitive processes underlying males' eating disorder symptomatology.

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“…We matched participants based on age and education but were not able to match groups based on Body Mass Index ('BMI'; Table S1). The DE group had higher BMI scores than the TE group, and higher BMI scores were associated with higher global EDE-Q scores (B = 0.10, t(277) = 9.93, p < 0.001), consistent with previous work showing a positive relationship between BMI and EDE-Q scores (Ralph-Nearman et al, 2020). We statistically accounted for this difference by including BMI as a nuisance variable in all of our analyses (although we never found BMI to exert significant effects).…”

Section: Participantssupporting

confidence: 87%

Decisions on a platter: Food biases and arousal alter reward learning

Rouhani,

Grossman,

Feusner

et al. 2023

Preprint

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Food seeking and avoidance are powerful drivers of decision-making in healthy and clinical populations. The urge to eat engages primary reward systems in the brain, thought to bias preference for energy-dense or high-calorie food more likely to sate hunger. This process is however interrupted in eating disorders where high-calorie food is avoided. It is nevertheless unclear how innate or learned food biases may interact with general reward processing to predict learning and decisions. We developed a novel paradigm to investigate whether and how biases for high- and low-calorie food alter decision-making in a large sample of participants with typical eating (‘TE’) and disordered eating (‘DE’) behavior. Importantly, food characteristics (high- vs. low-calorie) were completely incidental to the task goal of maximizing monetary reward. An arousal manipulation involving a large monetary win or loss, examined whether heightened arousal, thought to influence goal-directed behavior, enhances the impact of food biases on reward learning. Consistent with prior notions of food-relevant biases, the TE group learned better (i.e., made more correct choices) when high-calorie foods were rewarding while the DE group learned better when low-calorie foods were rewarding. The arousal manipulation boosted this group-dependent bias. Fitting behavior to reinforcement learning models enabled us to identify distinct cognitive components underlying the effect. Specifically, the impact of food-related biases on learning was best explained when accounting for group differences in the initial values and learning rates (for positive prediction errors) for high- and low-calorie foods. In other words, typical and disordered eaters showed differences in their pre-experimental preference for a food type (high- or low-calorie food, respectively), as well as the extent to which they learned from positive outcomes associated with that preference. These findings provide a mechanistic account of how food biases alter reward-based choice, especially under heightened arousal. Our results suggest that interventions altering innate or learned food preference should target habit-directed mechanisms to help mitigate maladaptive eating behavior.

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What is the relationship between body mass index and eating disorder symptomatology in professional female fashion models?

Cited by 11 publications

References 37 publications

The Influence of Self-Efficacy and Locus of Control on Body Image: A Path-Analysis in Aspiring Fashion Models, Athletes and Students

The Influence of Self-Efficacy and Locus of Control on Body Image: A Path-Analysis in Aspiring Fashion Models, Athletes and Students

An eye-tracking study examining the relationship between males’ eating disorder symptomatology, body mass index, and expectations about character behaviour in text

Decisions on a platter: Food biases and arousal alter reward learning

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