The interaction of sociocultural attitudes and gender on disordered eating.

OBJECTIVE: The Tripartite Influence Model posits that social agents emphasize a thin ideal for women and a muscularity ideal for men. There is a gap in the literature of how sociocultural body ideal internalization affects overall disordered eating symptoms in men and specifically drive for muscularity in women. METHOD: The sample consisted of 1,929 participants (44.2% men) who completed online surveys. It was predicted that internalization would be a stronger predictor for overall disordered eating in women and for muscularity in men. RESULTS: Women with high internalization had increased disordered eating symptoms in comparison to men, whereas for men, increased internalization was linked to more drive for muscularity, as compared with women. CONCLUSIONS: It is important to emphasize, however, that men still exhibited higher rates of disordered eating symptoms when they had increased internalization and women exhibited an increased drive for muscularity when they had higher internalization.

An examination of the relationships between acculturative stress, perceived discrimination, and eating disorder symptoms among ethnic minority college students.

Empirical evidence suggests the importance of considering acculturative stress and perceived discrimination in understanding the mental health of ethnic minority groups, including their eating behaviors and associated psychopathology. The current study examined the effect of acculturative stress and perceived discrimination on eating disorder symptoms among ethnic minority undergraduate students. A total of 187 ethnic minority undergraduate students (41.2% men) completed this cross-sectional study by completing self-report questionnaires on a secure online system. Regression analyses revealed a main effect of acculturative stress on eating concern, shape concern, weight concern, drive for thinness, and bulimia but not restraint or body dissatisfaction. Gender moderated the effect of acculturative stress on drive for muscularity, suggesting that this effect was only significant in women, but not men. The main effect of perceived discrimination was significant for restraint, eating concern, shape concern, weight concern, and drive for muscularity but not drive for thinness, bulimia, or body dissatisfaction. Acculturative stress and perceived discrimination are important factors to consider in understanding the development and maintenance of eating disorder symptoms among ethnic minority populations. Targeting these two factors may improve the effectiveness of intervention programs for eating disorder symptoms among ethnic minority undergraduate students.

Bulimic symptoms and interpersonal functioning among college students.

Integrating interpersonal theory and the stress generation hypothesis, two studies investigated the association between bulimic symptoms and interpersonal distress and the mechanism underlying this association. In Study 1, 36 pairs of female roommates completed self-report questionnaires in a laboratory while Study 2 recruited 539 undergraduate men and women to participate in a longitudinal online study by completing self-report measures at two time points. Multilevel modeling revealed that targets' bulimic symptoms predicted roommates' intention to continue living with them in Study 1. Greater bulimic symptoms predicted lower intention. In Study 2, bulimic symptoms had a direct and an indirect effect on interpersonal distress, with reassurance-seeking as a mediator in the indirect effect. Findings replicated previous studies showing that bulimic symptoms generate further distress and, in our studies, interpersonal distress specifically. Moreover, reassurance-seeking was a newly identified mechanism underlying this association. These findings provide support for the usefulness of interpersonal theory and the stress generation hypothesis as a framework for understanding bulimic symptomatology. Clinicians may find it useful to target reassurance-seeking behaviors during the treatment of bulimic symptoms in order to improve treatment outcomes.

An Examination of the Connections Between Eating Disorder Symptoms, Perceived Burdensomeness, Thwarted Belongingness, and Suicide Risk Among Undergraduate Students.

Suicide attempts and premature mortality due to suicide are elevated in people with eating disorders. Informed by the interpersonal theory of suicide, two studies examined the role of perceived burdensomeness and thwarted belongingness in explaining the association between eating disorder symptoms and suicide risk. Results indicated that various eating disorder symptoms had an indirect effect on suicide risk through perceived burdensomeness and thwarted belongingness. Targeting perceived burdensomeness and thwarted belongingness may be useful for decreasing suicide risk among undergraduates with eating disorder symptoms.

A test of an interactive model of binge eating among undergraduate men.

Past research has shown that a combination of high perfectionism, high body dissatisfaction, and low self-esteem is predictive of binge eating in college women (Bardone-Cone et al., 2006). In the current study, we examined whether this triple interaction model is applicable to men. Male undergraduate college students from a large Midwestern university (n=302) completed self-report measures online at two different time points, a minimum of eight weeks apart. Analyses revealed a significant interaction between the three risk factors, such that high perfectionism, high body dissatisfaction, and low self-esteem at Time 1 were associated with higher levels of Time 2 binge eating symptoms. The triple interaction model did not predict Time 2 anxiety or depressive symptoms, which suggests model specificity. These findings offer a greater understanding of the interactive nature of risk factors in predicting binge eating symptoms among men.