سن ابتلا و نارضایتی از بدن در چاقی

Over the last few years, research investigating the psychological correlates of obesity has begun to move away from comparisons between obese and normal weight groups towards a ‘second generation’ of studies (Friedman & Brownell, 1995) concerned with variation in psychological well-being within obese groups. This approach acknowledges the heterogeneity of obesity and aims to examine the cognitive, emotional, and social factors, which can increase the risk of psychological distress or eating disturbance among obese people. Body image disturbance or body dissatisfaction has been one of the major areas of research in the field of eating disorders (Thompson, 1995). Body image disturbance is widely acknowledged to be associated with increased psychological distress and to be a risk factor in the aetiology of eating disturbance and disorders Button et al., 1997 and Ricciardelli et al., 1997. While being prevalent in normal-weight groups (especially adolescent girls), it has also been found to be widespread in obese populations (e.g., Foster et al., 1997 and Smith et al., 1999). More importantly, however, body image varies significantly, even among the obese, with some obese people having a reasonably positive view of their physique, while others are severely distressed (Hill & Williams, 1998).