Presenter:

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Social Psychological Perspectives on Disordered Eating Among College Females

• Presenter
• Dr. Priscilla Gitimu,
• Other investigators in the research group-
• Dr. Moly Cox, Dr. Taci Turel
• Dr. Rachel Pohle-Krauza, Dr. Jeanine Mincher, Dr.
  Zara Rowlands,
• Dr. Janice Elias

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Why this study????

• In summer of 2012, we lost a student to Bulimia.
  Many of us wondered how many students could be
  suffering similarly and how could we intervene.
  This study will
• Assist to approximate a how many students at
  could be at risk of a DE.
• Study variables related to DE.
• Use the knowledge we gain from this study to
  intervene.

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Synergy advantage

• Synergy can be defined as the cooperation of
  two or more people, to produce a combined effect
  greater than the sum of their separate efforts
• This study is a product of cooperation among
  seven faculty, with various expertise, coming
  together to have a deeper understanding on
  disordered eating, not just for research, but to
  actually help our students.

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Synergy advantage examples

• Faculty have varying expertise hence compliment
  each other
• Nutrition faculty have in-depth understanding
  on dieting and disordered eating
• Fashion faculty - have in-depth understanding of
  body image appearance issues
• Psychology - have in-depth understanding on
  statistics and psychological issues e.g.
  depression.

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Objective of the study?

• To investigate Disordered Eating (DE) and its
  relationship to the following variables among
  college female students.
• Body image,
• Social cultural attitudes towards appearance,
• Appearance anxiety,
• Depression

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Facts about Disordered Eating(DE) and Eating
Disorders (ED)

• Disordered eating can lead to an eating disorder.
• DE is more of a habit, while ED is an illness.
• For DE usually education and/or self-help group
  can assist with change, but for ED, requires
  specific professional medical and mental health
  treatment.

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Facts about Eating Disorders

• It is estimated that 8 million Americans have an
  eating disorder seven million women and one
  million men.
• Nearly half of all Americans personally know
  someone with an eating disorder.
• Eating disorders have the highest mortality rate
  of any mental illness (Arcelus, 2011).

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Facts about Eating Disorders

• It is estimated that clinical eating disorders
  affects 10 to 20 of female university students,
  and 4 to 10 of male university students
  (Schlesinge, 2014 The National Eating Disorders
  Association (NEDA).

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exposure to thin models could also play a role
on development of eating disorders HuffPost
blogger Susan Albers, Psy.D., a psychologist at
the Cleveland Clinic. Hence the Every-BODY
Fashion show on ALL BODY TYPES! This year it is
on April 19th.
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Theoretical Framework for this study

• The current study based its discourse through the
  lenses of four theories and their modern day
  interpretations
• Social comparison theory by Festinger (1954),
  -humans always strive to improve their lives and
  they do so by comparing themselves with other
  individuals.
• Social cultural perspectives- the social
  cultural ideal female beauty many times differs
  from the actual appearance of many women.
  (Jung-Hee, Lennon Rudd, 2001),

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Theoretical Framework for this study

• 3. Self-discrepancy theory - differences may
  exist between the actual (real) the ideal
  (desired) appearance. These discrepancies may
  lead to an unfavorable mental state of mind,
  which again may lead to a decline in recognizing
  of apparent self-discrepancies. When the
  discrepancy is large, it may yield to a mental
  condition such as depression (Higgins, Klein,
  Strauman, 1987).
• 4. Normative discontent theory dissatisfaction
  with ones weight has become so widespread among
  females that feeling undesirably about ones
  appearance is allegedly to be the norm rather
  than the exception
• (Rodin, Silberstein, Striegel-Moore, 1984).

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Variables measured in the study and why

1. Demographic information including n current
   weight, desired weight, height (hence BMI).
2. Stunkard Body Figure Scale (BFS)
3. EAT -26
4. Social Cultural Attitudes towards Appearance
   Scale- (SATAQ-3)
5. Social Appearance Anxiety Scale (SAAS)
6. Beck Depression Inventory (BDI)

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Study method

• The combined scales took about 15-20 minutes to
  fill.
• Got Human Subjects permission.
• The consent letter gave information on where
  participants can get counseling help.
• Distributed most surveys in classes.

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Counseling help contact, inserted in the consent
letter to all participants

• If you would like to talk with someone about
  your health or body perceptions, you can contact
  the YSU student health clinic at 330-941-3489. 
  YSU also offers services to you at the Community
  Counseling Clinic which you can contact at
  330-941-3056 during business hours, both of these
  confidential services are available to all YSU
  students at no cost.  You can also receive
  confidential help via the Youngstown area Crisis
  Hotline at 330 747-2696. 

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Variables measured in the study and why
Scale used Why it was important
EAT -26 If participant scored EAT 2620, then they were considered at risk of having an eating disorder.
BMI Body dissatisfaction has shown to be positively correlated with body weight and BMI (Gardner, Brown, Boice, 2012).
Stunkard Body Figure Scale (BFS) Gave current body shape and ideal body shape.
Social Cultural Attitudes towards Appearance Scale- (SATAQ-3) Internalization of media influences is a dominant predictor of appearance dissatisfaction (Swami, Taylor, Carvalho, 2011).
Social Appearance Anxiety Scale (SAAS) Given that social anxiety and eating disorders typically exist concurrently, it seems likely that social appearance anxiety may be a missing connection between social anxiety and eating disorders. (Levinson Rodebaugh 2012).
Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) There are common associations between depression and disordered eating symptoms and anxiety sensitivity. (Fink, Bodell, Smith, Joiner (2013).
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SCALES
Scale Number of items Cronbachs Alpha Example Scoring
EAT-26 26 .87 I have gone on eating binges where I feel that I may not be able to stop EAT 26 20 are considered to be at risk of having an eating disorder.
SATAQ-3 30 .95 I compare my appearance to the appearance of TV and movie stars. Higher scores indicate more influence by Social cultural attitudes towards appearance
SAAS 16 .97 I am frequently afraid I would not meet others standards of how I should look. Higher scores on the SAAS indicate higher levels of social appearance anxiety.
BDI   21 .92 Each item on the BDI scale is framed within a range of 0-3 0 I do not feel sad 1 I feel sad Scores range from 0 to 63, with a score of 10 or more meaning one has symptoms of depression
BFS 10 pictures   Difference between current and ideal body shape Greater the difference indicate greater body dissatisfaction
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EAT- 26
If participant scored EAT 2620, then they were
considered at risk of having an eating disorder.
women
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Table 2. Demographic and descriptive information
for sampleBody satisfaction and dissatisfaction
were determined by the Stunkard Body Figural Scale
  Total sample At-risk (EAT 2620) Not At-risk (EAT 2620)
Total N 342 65 277
Race Caucasian African-American Hispanic Asian Native American Other   276 46 6 3 1 11   59 (21) 4 (9) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 3 (27)   217 (79) 42 (91) 6 (100) 3 (100) 1 (100) 8 (73)
Marital Status Single Married Divorced   294 36 10   60 (20) 4 (11) 1 (10)   234 (80) 32 (89) 9 (90)
Age 18-22 years 23-30 years 31-40 years 41-50 years 50 and over   236 65 17 6 11   51 (12) 7 (11) 2 (12) 0 (0) 2 (18)   185 (78) 58 (89) 15 (88) 6 (100) 9 (82)
Body satisfaction 102 11 (11) 91 (89)
Body dissatisfaction 240 54 (22) 186 (78)
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ANOVAs for WOMEN EAT 26 20 (at risk of ED)
as dependent variable and other variables as
independent variables
WOMEN WOMEN N Mean F Sig.
BMI Not At-risk 272 24.937 .479 .489
BMI At-risk 65 25.639    
Current Shape Ideal Shape BFS Not At-risk 277 1.011 16.006 .000
Current Shape Ideal Shape BFS At-risk 65 1.662    
Social Appearance Anxiety SAASTOT Not At-risk 277 32.679 40.412 .000
Social Appearance Anxiety SAASTOT At-risk 65 46.692    
Sociocultural Attitudes Towards Appearance SATAQTOT Not At-risk 257 83.630 36.712 .000
Sociocultural Attitudes Towards Appearance SATAQTOT At-risk 61 103.213    
Depression symptoms BDI Not At-risk 252 8.310 14.135 .000
Depression symptoms BDI At-risk 61 13.330    
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Logistic Regression Analysis
Predictor b SE b Walds c2 df p Odds Ratio
Constant -5.37 .966 30.937 1 lt.001 .005
Appearance contentment .478 .466 1.051 1 .305 1.613
BMI -.013 .024 .319 1 .572 .987
Sociocultural Attitudes Toward Appearance .028 .009 10.088 1 .001 1.029
Social Appearance Anxiety .027 .012 5.122 1 .024 1.028
Depression .014 .019 .594 1 .441 1.015
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Regression explanation

• The dichotomized risk of disordered eating
  behavior as measured by EAT-26 scores and
  categorized as at-risk or not at-risk was the
  outcome, and appearance contentment (BFS scale),
  BMI, scores on the SATAQ, scores on the SAAS, and
  scores on the BDI were predictor variables.
• The combination of these variables is a strong
  predictor of disordered eating behavior. The
  Hosmer and Lemeshow goodness-of-fit test
  indicates a nonsignificant statistic (c2 (8)
  10.56, p .226), suggesting that the model
  estimates fit the data well.
• Furthermore, the classification table indicates
  that this model would correctly predict a
  females risk for disordered eating behavior
  83.6 of the time.
• Two of the five predictors were significantly
  contributing to this model fit.- the SATAQ
  (sociocultural attitudes toward appearance), and
  the SAAS, (social appearance anxiety), were
  significant predictors of female college
  students risk for disordered eating behavior.

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Discussion

• Women who were at risk of an eating disorder
  differed significantly in their (SATAQ totals)
  Sociocultural Attitudes Towards Appearance than
  those who were not at risk of an eating disorder.
  
• Body image develops in the context of
  sociocultural factors, such as unrealistic media
  images (Clay, Vignoles, Dittmar, 2005).

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Discussion contd.

• Women who were at risk of an eating disorder
  differed significantly in the following(see
  below) than those who were not at risk of an
  eating disorder.
• social appearance anxiety totals (SAAS)
• Current Shape Ideal Shape (BFS)
• Depression symptomatic (BDI)

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Discussion contd.

• Women who were at risk of an eating disorder did
  not differ significantly in their (BMI) than
  those who were not at risk of an eating disorder.
  
• According to Lafrance et al. (2013)
• Regardless of a womans body size/BMI the
  tendency to diet was the same for all women.

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Practical Implications

• BMI was not shown to differ significantly between
  those at risk for disordered eating behavior and
  those less at risk. --college females with a
  healthy body weight can never-the-less be at risk
  for the development of an eating disorder.
• There should be campaigns, slogans and deliberate
  effort in society to ascribe value to women on
  attributes other than physical appearance, such
  as character.

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Practical Implications

• Start early education interventions to help
  girls critique rather than internalize
  unrealistic media images (Clay, Vignoles,
  Dittmar, 2005) and form their own more flexible
  physical goals.
• Reduce appearance related thoughts and
  conversations which may cause social appearance
  anxiety (Bardone-Cone, et al. 2013).

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Research Plan ahead

• Use the research findings of our study to try and
  reduce disordered eating through various
  avenues.
• Currently we are having the EVERYBODY Fashion
  show. Every year the shows theme is create
  awareness about disordered eating.

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Some Photos from the last two EveryBODY fashion
Show
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A Window Display in department with messages
about good Body Image