Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7fkt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T07:59:20.376Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Body-Related Behaviours and Cognitions: Relationship to Eating Psychopathology in Non-Clinical Women and Men

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 May 2011

Caroline Meyer ,
Lauren McPartlan ,
Anthony Rawlinson ,
Jo Bunting  and
Glenn Waller
Caroline Meyer
Affiliation:
Loughborough University and Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, UK
Lauren McPartlan
Affiliation:
Loughborough University, UK
Anthony Rawlinson
Affiliation:
Loughborough University, UK
Jo Bunting
Affiliation:
Loughborough University, UK
Glenn Waller*
Affiliation:
Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, and Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust, UK
*
Reprint requests to Glenn Waller, Vincent Square Clinic, Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust, Osbert Street, London SW1P 2QU, UK. E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Background: Eating disturbances and poor body image are maintained by body-related safety behaviours and their associated cognitions. These include body checking, avoidance, comparison and display, which can be seen as safety behaviours, maintaining eating pathology and poor body image. It is not clear from the existing literature whether these behavioural and cognitive patterns are independently related to eating psychopathology. Method: This study of a non-clinical group of women and men (N = 250) explored the association of eating attitudes and behaviours with these four elements of body-related behaviours and cognitions. Results: It was found that each of the four elements had independent associations with eating attitudes and behaviours. Those associations were not explained by anxiety or depression levels. Discussion: Whilst these findings require study within a clinical group, they suggest that all four elements of body-related behaviours and cognitions need to be considered as potential maintaining factors when formulating eating psychopathology and body image disturbance.

Keywords

Body imagebehaviourssafety behaviourseating attitudes
Type
Research Article
Information
Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy , Volume 39 , Issue 5 , October 2011 , pp. 591 - 600
Copyright
Copyright © British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Andrews, B. (1997). Bodily shame in relation to abuse in childhood and bulimia: A preliminary investigation. British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 36, 41–49.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Black, C. M. D. and Wilson, G. T. (1996). Assessment of eating disorders: Interview versus questionnaire. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 20, 43–50.3.0.CO;2-4>CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cahill, S. and Mussap, A. J. (2007). Emotional reactions following exposure to idealized bodies predict unhealthy body change attitudes and behaviors in women and men. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 62, 631–639.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cooper, M. J., Whitehead, L. and Boughton, N. (2004). Eating disorders. In Bennett-Levy, J., Butler, G., Fennell, M., Hackmann, A., Mueller, M. and Westbrook, D. (Eds). Oxford Guide to Behavioural Experiments in Cognitive Therapy (pp. 267–286). Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Durkin, S. J., Paxton, S. J. and Wertheim, E. H. (2005). How do adolescent girls evaluate body dissatisfaction prevention messages? Journal of Adolescent Health, 37, 381–90.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fairburn, C. G. and Beglin, S. J. (1994). The assessment of eating disorders: interview or self-report questionnaire? International Journal of Eating Disorders, 16, 363–370.3.0.CO;2-#>CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fairburn, C. G., Cooper, Z. and Shafran, R. (2003). Cognitive behaviour therapy for eating disorders: a “transdiagnostic” theory and treatment. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 41, 509–528.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Grant, J. E. and Phillips, K. A. (2005). Recognizing and treating body dysmorphic disorder. Annals of Clinical Psychiatry, 17, 205–210.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Grilo, C. M., Reas, D. L., Brody, M. L., Burke-Martindale, C. H., Rothschild, B. S. and Masheb, R. M. (2005). Body checking and avoidance and the core features of eating disorders among obese men and women seeking bariatric surgery. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 43, 629–637.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Haase, A., Mountford, V. and Waller, G. (2007). Understanding the link between body checking cognitions and behaviours: the role of social physique anxiety. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 40, 241–246.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Keel, P. K., Dorer, D. J., Franko, D. L., Jackson, S. C. and Herzog, D. B. (2005). Post remission predictors of relapse in women with eating disorders. American Journal of Psychiatry, 162, 2263–2268.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Luce, K. H., Crowther, J. H. and Pole, M. (2008). Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire (EDE-Q): norms for undergraduate women. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 41, 273–276.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mond, J. M., Hay, P. J., Rodgers, B., Owen, C. and Beumont, P. J. V. (2004). Validity of the Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire (EDE-Q) in screening for eating disorders in community samples. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 42, 551–567.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mountford, V., Haase, A. and Waller, G. (2006). Body checking in the eating disorders: associations between cognitions and behaviours. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 39, 708–715.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Niego, S. H., Pratt, E. M. and Agras, W. S. (1998). Subjective or objective binge: is the distinction valid? International Journal of Eating Disorders, 22, 291–298.3.0.CO;2-I>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reas, D. L., Grilo, C. M., Masheb, R. M. and Wilson, G. T. (2005). Body checking and avoidance in overweight patients with binge eating disorder. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 37, 342–346.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Reas, D. L., Whisenhunt, B. L., Netemeyer, R. and Williamson, D. A. (2002). Development of the body checking questionnaire: a self report measure of body checking behaviours. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 31, 324–333.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reas, D. L., White, M. A. and Grilo, C. M. (2006). Body checking questionnaire: psychometric properties and clinical correlates in obese men and women with binge eating disorder. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 39, 326–331.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shafran, R., Fairburn, C. G., Robinson, P. and Lask, B. (2004). Body checking and its avoidance in eating disorders. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 35, 93–101.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shafran, R., Lee, M., Payne, E. and Fairburn, C. G. (2007). An experimental analysis of body checking. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 45, 113–121.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Waller, G., Cordery, H., Corstorphine, E., Hinrichsen, H., Lawson, R., Mountford, V. and Russell, K. (2007). Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for the Eating Disorders: a comprehensive treatment guide. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Waller, G., Sines, J., Meyer, C., Foster, E. and Skelton, A. (2007). Narcissism and narcissistic defences in the eating disorders. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 40, 143–148.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Waller, G., Sines, J., Meyer, C. and Mountford, V. (2008). Body checking in the eating disorders: association with narcissistic characteristics. Eating Behaviors, 9, 163–169.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Zigmond, A. S. and Snaith, R. P. (1983). The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 67, 361–370.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Submit a response

Comments

No Comments have been published for this article.