Browsing by Subject "Body Image"
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Item Body image and disordered eating in romantic relationships(2009-05-15) Rahbar, Kristen PaulineEating, weight, and shape concerns (EWS) are prevalent among college women, and women with EWS concerns tend to experience difficulties in the domain of interpersonal functioning. For a young woman, romantic relationships represent one of the most important aspects of her interpersonal world; thus, an exploration of the romantic relationships of women with EWS concerns may potentially impact the risk assessment, prevention, and treatment of these women. This study used a longitudinal design to examine the relations between EWS concerns and romantic relationships in 88 college women and their heterosexual partners. Participants completed questionnaires at two time points spaced approximately two months apart. Results revealed that women?s relationship outcomes did not predict changes in their EWS concerns over the subsequent two months, but relationship negative events for men predicted a worsening of women?s EWS concerns. This finding contradicts the common hypothesis that the influence between women?s EWS concerns and romantic relationship outcomes is bi-directional. Men?s desired change in their partners? bodies predicted women?s EWS concerns cross-sectionally and longitudinally; however, once controlling for Body Mass Index, most results were no longer significant. Thus, it seems that a woman?s actual body weight may be driving both her partner?s satisfaction with her body and her own EWS concerns. Results for analyses determining whether women?s EWS concerns predicted subsequent changes in relationship outcomes indicated that women?s body image during physical intimacy was the only EWS variable that significantly or marginally predicted a worsening of all relationship outcomes for both men and women. This finding provides further support for previous research suggesting that women?s body image problems may lead to avoidance or uneasiness with physical intimacy, which in turn may impact relationship functioning. Finally, men?s desired change in their partner?s bodies predicted only men?s own relationship outcomes cross-sectionally, and only women?s relationship outcomes longitudinally. Overall, this study highlights the importance of longitudinal research and of assessing both partners when exploring the relations between women?s EWS concerns and romantic relationship outcomes.Item Mediators of Weight Gain in Acute Treatment of Patients with Anorexia Nervosa(2009-06-18) Rosckes, Jacueline Whitney; Stewart, SunitaAnorexia Nervosa has been associated with low levels of readiness to recover since the earliest accounts of the disorder. Given the motivational deficiency and egosyntonic quality, anorexia nervosa is among the most difficult types of psychological disorders to treat. Recent empirical and theoretical investigations have focused on the long-term outcome of weight gain from readiness to change. However, few studies have analyzed the bidirectional relationship of readiness to change and weight gain during the course of hospitalization. The aims of the present study were to analyze the short-term bidirectional relationship between readiness to change and weight gain at multiple time points during acute hospitalization, and to evaluate the influence of stronger cognitive distortions at admission on the relationship between recent weight gain and readiness to change. The sample consisted of 30 females and 3 males diagnosed with anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, or eating disorder not otherwise specified, with weight below 93 percent of their healthy weight range, and who were admitted to an inpatient facility. At admission, the patients were administered self-report measures assessing readiness to change and cognitive distortions. Additionally, patients completed a self-report measure evaluating readiness to change every two weeks following admission. This study found that during the last weeks of hospitalization, readiness to change predicted weight gain one day following the completion of the self-report measure. However, despite the expectation that greater prior weight gain would predict lower readiness to change, no such relationship emerged. Additionally, the severity of cognitive distortions at admission was not found to predict a stronger negative relationship between prior weight gain and readiness to change. These results suggest that readiness to change can be utilized to predict short-term weight gain at multiple time points during the latter part of hospitalization for treatment of anorexia nervosa. This information has implications for the clinical care of severely underweight patients with eating disorders.Item Social comparison test using women's subjective and physiological reactivity to thin and average size models(2009-05-15) Tamez, Jeannine PaolaThe current study examined the subjective and physiological reactivity to body image stimuli among females engaging in a social comparison task. Study I was conducted to select images of thin and average size models and neutral objects for Study II. For Study II, fifty-six female undergraduate students had their skin conductance and startle reflex responses recorded while comparing themselves to images featuring thin models, average size models, and neutral objects. Following the visual presentation, participants rated every image using the Self-Assessment Manikin (SAM) rating scale. Analysis from the SAM ratings scale revealed a significant picture type effect for arousal, dominance, and body satisfaction, indicating that participants reported greater arousal, more body dissatisfaction, and less control after viewing images of thin models than after viewing images of normal models and neutral objects. With regards to the psychophysiological data, results indicated that startle reflex responses were inhibited during the presentation of thin models in comparison to average size models and neutral objects. Moreover, startle reflex responses were inhibited for average size models in comparison to neutral objects. The finding that startle reactivity to model images was inhibited with respect to neutral images suggests pictures of models were processed affectively as pleasant, positive stimuli. The finding that startle reactivity to thin models was inhibited with respect to average size models suggests that thin model images elicited differentially greater positive affect than average size models. For skin conductance, analysis revealed no significant picture type effect. Taken together, the results of this study highlight the influence of social comparison processes on affectivity reactivity to body image. Future research directions are discussed.