Reexamining the restraint pathway as a conditional process among adolescent girls: When does dieting link body dissatisfaction to bulimia?

The mediational sequence from body dissatisfaction through dieting to bulimia-often referred to as the "restraint pathway"-has been validated in numerous samples of adolescent girls, but the prevalence rate of bulimic pathology pales in comparison to rates of body dissatisfaction and dieting in this risk group. This discrepancy indicates that the restraint pathway may only apply to adolescent girls possessing certain characteristics or experiencing certain circumstances. Accordingly, the current study examined the moderating roles of thin-ideal internalization, interoceptive deficits, and age by using self-report data from a community sample of 353 middle school (n = 115), high school (n = 112), and college girls (n = 126). We found that (a) body-dissatisfied girls who reported high, versus low, thin-ideal internalization engaged in greater dietary restraint; (b) only dieters who reported high interoceptive deficits and were of college age expressed bulimic symptoms; and (c) the mediating effect pertained only to college girls with high interoceptive deficits, but was strongest for those who reported high, versus low, thin-ideal internalization. These results suggest that the restraint pathway's precision may be fine-tuned through greater sensitivity to potentiating factors and developmental context. Theoretical, empirical, and practical implications are discussed.

Is fat talk more believable than self-affirming body talk?

Two experiments tested the extent to which the believability of women's body statements (fat talk or self-affirming) depends on their body type (thin or overweight). Experiment 1 (N=130) revealed fat talk was more believable than self-affirming talk regardless of body type. Experiment 2's (N=125) results showed, as hypothesized, that overweight women's fat talk was significantly more believable than fat talk by thin women and self-affirming talk by either thin or overweight women. Consistent with Experiment 1, there was a trend in Experiment 2 toward thin women's fat talk being more believable than their self-affirming talk. Overall, fat talk generally may be perceived as more believable than self-affirming body talk, and overweight women's fat talk may be perceived as most authentic. These results have implications for increasing understanding of fat talk's potential role in body dissatisfaction as well as the development of positive body image campaigns.

In it together: Mother talk of weight concerns moderates negative outcomes of encouragement to lose weight on daughter body dissatisfaction and disordered eating.

Mothers' influence on their daughters is important for understanding girls' disordered eating and body dissatisfaction. Direct maternal encouragement of daughters to lose weight is linked to daughters' development of bulimic symptoms, and additional findings indicate that daughters whose mothers merely talk about dieting and body dissatisfaction are more likely to be diagnosed with an eating disorder. The current study extends such research by examining the interactive contributions of maternal encouragement to lose weight and maternal dieting discussions to the prediction of early adolescent daughters' body dissatisfaction and disordered eating over the middle school period. Participants were 89 adolescent girls who were in the 6th grade at Time 1. Regression analyses were conducted to examine interactive effects of mother encouragement to diet and talk of weight concerns on daughter body dissatisfaction, drive for thinness, and dieting behavior. Results suggest an interactive effect in which mothers' dieting talk may act as a buffer against the negative effects of direct encouragement to lose weight.

Drive for muscularity is heightened in body-dissatisfied men who socially compare.

Men's drive for muscularity refers to the degree to which men wish to increase their muscularity. Men who are more extreme in their drive for muscularity face dangerous consequences, such as increased levels of eating pathology and use of performance-enhancing substances. The aim of this study was to predict men's drive for muscularity, and to test whether hypothesized predictive factors vary across age groups. Participants were 226 men ages 18-67. It was hypothesized that body dissatisfaction would predict men's drive for muscularity. More substantively, however, it was hypothesized that having a strong tendency to compare oneself with others would exacerbate the relationship between men's body dissatisfaction and their drive for muscularity. Results of a hierarchical multiple regression analysis supported these hypotheses. Furthermore, this exacerbating effect was present regardless of men's age. Implications for assessment, clinical practice, research, and prevention efforts are discussed.

Thin or overweight women's fat talk: which is worse for other women's body satisfaction?

Fat talk is not merely correlated with, but appears to be one of the causes of body dissatisfaction in other women. Moderators of fat talk's deleterious effects, however, have not yet been identified. This experiment tested whether the body type of the fat-talker affects listeners' body satisfaction. Women viewed photos of either noticeably thin or overweight women making either fat talk or positive body statements. Fat talk by thin and overweight women both had a negative impact on women's body satisfaction, but dissatisfaction was highest after exposure to photos of thin women making fat talk statements. Statistically indistinguishable from this latter effect, however, was the negative effect of thin women making positive body statements. Results are considered within a social comparison framework. Theoretical implications for the thin-ideal and fat talk literatures are presented, as are clinical implications for work with clients.

Who is most likely to fat talk? A social comparison perspective.

Negative talk about food, weight, or the body that occurs commonly among women--fat talk--is gaining increasing attention. Whereas its negative eating pathology and body esteem correlates have received continued empirical validation, what is not yet known is who is most likely to fat talk. We propose that social comparison processes underlie and motivate much of fat talk. In a sample of 143 college women, we found evidence for the role of social comparison. First, having a stronger tendency to socially compare directly predicts fat talk. Second, as a woman's body image concerns increase, her likelihood of engaging in fat talk increases, and this is intensified if she has a greater tendency to socially compare. Finally, social comparison propensity begins to exert its exacerbating effects at surprisingly low levels of body image concern. Results are discussed in terms of the advantages of using a social comparison perspective to better understand fat talk.

An Experimental Test of Women's Body Dissatisfaction Reduction through Self-Affirmation.

BACKGROUND: Body dissatisfaction (BD)--a health concern in its own right-often is positioned early in the causal chain toward eating pathology, and is a practical point of intervention for those aiming to reduce its negative health consequences. One approach to reducing people's resistance to receipt of other unwanted health information (e.g. about smoking) has been through the application of self-affirmation theory. This theory asserts that the self needs to maintain its integrity and, as such, when incoming information is threatening, one's defensive shields are activated and it is deflected. One way to reduce defensiveness, however, is to bolster some other aspect of the self. METHOD: We applied a one-shot, self-affirmation-based manipulation via a randomised controlled design (N=86) to a group of body-dissatisfied college women and compared its effects to a control group. RESULTS: All hypotheses predicted by self-affirmation theory were supported: Women who were self-affirmed exhibited (a) greater openness to threatening information about the dangers of BD, (b) lower BD, and (c) greater intention to reduce criticism of their bodies. CONCLUSIONS: The present study provided an experimental test of a mechanism of action which might prove useful in a comprehensive intervention program.

Heterosocial involvement, peer pressure for thinness, and body dissatisfaction among young adolescent girls.

The purpose of this study was to examine longitudinal connections among young adolescent heterosocial involvement (i.e., mixed-sex interactions), peer pressure for thinness, and body dissatisfaction. Three years of self-report questionnaire data were collected from 88 adolescent girls as they completed 6th through 8th grades. Results indicated that the relation between heterosocial involvement and body dissatisfaction was mediated by perceived peer pressure for thinness. Within this model, heterosocial involvement was associated with greater peer pressure for thinness. In turn, peer pressure for thinness was associated with greater body dissatisfaction. Results are discussed in terms of their implications for prevention and intervention efforts aimed at girls during their middle-school years.

Preventing the development of body issues in adolescent girls through intervention with their mothers.

The purpose of this study was to test the efficacy of the Healthy Girls Project, an ecologically based, targeted prevention program aimed at discouraging the development of body-related problems in middle-school girls via an intervention directly and only with their mothers. Participants were 31 seventh- and eighth-grade girls and their mothers. The empirically based intervention comprised a series of 4 weekly workshops that had both interactive psychoeducational components and behavioral components (e.g., homework to do with daughters, modeling activities). The study design was experimental, with mother-daughter dyads randomly assigned to either the intervention group or a wait-list control group. Daughters completed pretest (i.e., pre-workshop) measures, posttest measures, and, 3 months later, follow-up measures. Results indicated that at both posttest and follow-up, girls whose mothers were in the intervention group perceived less pressure from their mothers to be thin. At follow-up, these girls also showed a lower drive for thinness. Results were mixed regarding group differences in body dissatisfaction levels at posttest and at follow-up. Results are discussed in terms of their implications for targeted prevention efforts aimed at girls during their middle-school years.

Perceiving racism in ambiguous situations: who relies on easy-to-use information?

In situations that are ambiguous with regard to the presence of discrimination, how do people arrive at their conclusions that discrimination has (or has not) taken place? This question was examined from a motivated social cognition perspective via the interaction of two factors: the prototype effect--the notion that ambiguously discriminatory behavior is more likely to be perceived as discriminatory when the executor is prototypical and the need for cognitive closure--the tendency to jump hastily to and seize on an answer. Results provided replicating evidence of the prototype effect among European American participants but not among African American participants. Specifically, European Americans were likely to perceive ambiguously racist behavior enacted by a prototypical executor (i.e., a White person) as more discriminatory than the same behavior exhibited by a non-prototypical executor (i.e., a Black person). African American participants, on the other hand, showed no reliance on this simple cognitive heuristic. Furthermore, results showed that European Americans with a higher need for cognitive closure were more likely to rely on the easy-to-use information offered by prototypes. These findings are discussed from a motivated social cognition perspective.

Longitudinal examination of maternal psychological control and adolescents' self-competence as predictors of bulimic symptoms among boys and girls.

OBJECTIVE: Because bulimia nervosa is a problem among adolescents, it remains essential to examine its precursors. The specific etiologic chain investigated in this study is such that maternal psychological control first leads to adolescents' lowered self-competence, which in turn predicts bulimic symptoms. METHOD: Self-report data were collected from 58 boys and 73 girls during sixth, seventh, and eighth grades. Participants reported on maternal psychological control, self-competence, and bulimic symptoms. RESULTS: Using structural equation modeling, we tested our hypothesized longitudinal indirect effects model separately for boys and girls. Results indeed indicated that high maternal psychological control in sixth grade led to lowered adolescents' self-competence in seventh grade, which in turn predicted increased bulimic symptoms in eighth grade for both boys and girls. DISCUSSION: This study uncovers one particular process wherein a psychologically controlling parenting style affects adolescents' development of bulimic symptoms, a finding that may be useful to researchers and clinicians.

Who believes us when we try to conceal our prejudices? The effectiveness of moral credentials with in-groups versus out-groups.

Moral credentials are pieces of evidence accrued by individuals that can later be presented, intentionally or unintentionally, as a record of their lack of prejudice (B. Monin & D. T. Miller, 2001). For example, attending a gay pride march or being an openly gay person ostensibly credentials an individual to tell gay jokes free of concern that he or she will be labeled prejudiced. The authors tested whether displays of moral credentials actually work to insulate individuals from attributions of prejudice by others. Results indicated that displays of moral credentials generally discourage attributions of discrimination but unevenly so, depending on who makes the judgment. Consistent with predictions from social identity theory (H. Tajfel & J. C. Turner, 1979), participants most swayed by displays of moral credentials were those who shared an in-group status with the person displaying the moral credentials.

Predicting termination type from client-therapist agreement on the severity of the presenting problem.

Discrepancies between clients and therapists in their perceptions of the severity of the client's presenting problem were tested for their utility in predicting both premature and mutual termination. Eight problem types were examined, and analyses were conducted within a survival analysis framework. Across the majority of problem types, results indicated that greater discrepancies between clients and therapists lowered the odds of mutual termination; however, greater discrepancies did not in turn increase the odds of premature termination. Interaction tests of client-therapist discrepancy with a variable that changes over time, accruing number of sessions, offer some qualifications. In particular, in the case of two problem types--depression and family-of-origin--when large discrepancies occurred, the likelihood of premature termination maintained at an equal rate throughout treatment, whereas when discrepancies were moderate or absent, the likelihood of premature termination diminished. Implications for clinicians and researchers point to enhancement of the therapeutic alliance as a means of reducing the probability of premature termination and increasing the probability of mutual termination. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved).