بررسی نقش تعدیل کننده هنجارهای اجتماعی بین نارضایتی از بدن و اختلال خوردن در دانشجویان

Body dissatisfaction is a well-replicated risk factor for disordered eating, yet not all individuals with body dissatisfaction exhibit disordered eating. This study examined the role of perceptions of social norms on the relationship between body dissatisfaction and disordered eating. Perceptions of descriptive and injunctive peer norms, body dissatisfaction, and disordered eating were examined in a non-clinical sample of college men and women using cross-sectional survey methods. For women, perceptions of the injunctive norms of peer thinness and peer acceptability moderated the relationship between body dissatisfaction and disordered eating with an additive effect; perceptions of the descriptive norm peer prevalence of disordered eating behaviors did not. In men, norms did not moderate the relationship between body dissatisfaction and disordered eating. Endorsement of injunctive norms is associated with reported disordered eating in women with high body dissatisfaction. Norm-based interventions may be best suited for women with high body dissatisfaction.

Body dissatisfaction is a potent risk factor for eating pathology (Jacobi et al., 2004, Stice, 2002 and Striegel-Moore and Bulik, 2007) and prospectively predicts worsening disordered eating (i.e. eating disorder attitudes and behaviors) in college populations (Cooley and Toray, 2001 and Striegel-Moore et al., 1989). Approximately 10% of college women exhibit pathological levels of body preoccupation (Klemchuk, Hutchinson, & Frank, 1990) reflecting the notion of a “normative discontent” in college women (Rodin, Silberstein, & Striegel-Moore, 1984). However, diagnosable eating disorders are rare, with lifetime prevalence ranging between .3 and 2.0% for men and between .9 and 3.5% for women, depending on diagnosis (Hudson et al., 2007 and Smink et al., 2012). The perception of the social environment may interact with body dissatisfaction such that those with high body dissatisfaction may have the greatest disordered eating when social norms encourage thinness and disordered eating. The current study investigates whether the perceptions of social norms (i.e., peer thinness ideals, peer acceptance of eating disorder behaviors, prevalence of eating disorder behaviors in peers) moderate the relationship between body dissatisfaction and eating disorder symptoms. Specifically, the study examines two types of social norms: descriptive norms regarding the prevalence of behaviors and injunctive norms regarding the acceptability of behaviors (Cialdini, Reno, & Kallgren, 1990).