Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-t5tsf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-03T08:08:27.922Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Undue influence of weight and shape: is it distinct from body dissatisfaction and concern about weight and shape?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 May 2010

T. D. Wade ,
G. Zhu  and
N. G. Martin
T. D. Wade*
Affiliation:
School of Psychology, Flinders University, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
G. Zhu
Affiliation:
Queensland Institute of Medical Research, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
N. G. Martin
Affiliation:
Queensland Institute of Medical Research, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
*
*Address for correspondence: Professor T. D. Wade, School of Psychology, Flinders University, PO Box 2100, Adelaide, SA 5001, Australia. (Email: [email protected])
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Background

Three cognitive constructs are risk factors for eating disorders: undue influence of weight and shape, concern about weight and shape, and body dissatisfaction (BD). Undue influence, a diagnostic criterion for eating disorders, is postulated to be closely associated with self-esteem whereas BD is postulated to be closely associated with body mass index (BMI). We understand less about the relationships with concern about weight and shape. The aim of the current investigation was examine the degree of overlap across these five phenotypes in terms of latent genetic and environmental risk factors in order to draw some conclusions about the similarities and differences across the three cognitive variables.

Method

A sample of female Australian twins (n=1056, including 348 complete pairs), mean age 35 years (s.d.=2.11, range 28–40), completed a semi-structured interview about eating pathology and self-report questionnaires. An independent pathways model was used to investigate the overlap of genetic and environmental risk factors for the five phenotypes.

Results

In terms of variance that was not shared with other phenotypes, self-esteem emerged as being separate, with 100% of its variance unshared with the other phenotypes, followed by undue influence (51%) and then concern (34%), BD (28%) and BMI (32%).

Conclusions

In terms of shared genetic risk, undue influence and concern were more closely related than BD, whereas BMI and BD were found to share common sources of risk. With respect to environmental risk factors, concern, BMI and BD were more closely related to each other than to undue influence.

Keywords

Body dissatisfactionheritabilityundue influence of weight and shapeweight and shape concern
Type
Original Articles
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 41 , Issue 4 , April 2011 , pp. 819 - 828
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2010

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

Akaike, H (1987). Factor analysis and AIC. Psychometrika 52, 317–332.Google Scholar
Allen, KL, Byrne, SM, McLean, NJ, Davis, EA (2008). Overconcern with weight and shape is not the same as body dissatisfaction: evidence from a prospective study of pre-adolescent boys and girls. Body Image 5, 261–270.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
APA (1994). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th edn. American Psychiatric Association: Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Banasiak, SJ, Wertheim, EH, Koerner, J, Voudouris, NJ (2001). Test-retest reliability and internal consistency of a variety of measures of dietary restraint and body concerns in a sample of adolescent girls. International Journal of Eating Disorders 29, 85–89.Google Scholar
Brown, WJ, Bryson, L, Byles, JE, Dobson, AJ, Lee, C, Mishra, G, Schofield, M (1998). Women's Health Australia: recruitment for a national longitudinal cohort study. Women and Health 28, 23–40.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bulik, CM, Wade, TD, Heath, AC, Martin, NG, Stunkard, AJ, Eaves, LJ (2001). Relating body mass index to figural stimuli: population-based normative data for Caucasians. International Journal of Obesity and Related Metabolic Disorders 25, 1517–1524.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cooper, PJ, Fairburn, CG (1993). Confusion over the core psychopathology of bulimia nervosa. International Journal of Eating Disorders 13, 385–389.Google Scholar
Craig, BM, Adams, AK (2009). Accuracy of body mass index categories based on self-reported height and weight among women in the United States. Maternal and Child Health Journal 13, 489–496.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Eaves, LJ, Eysenck, HJ, Martin, NG, Jardine, R, Heath, AC, Feingold, L, Young, PA, Kendler, KS (1989). Genes, Culture and Personality: An Empirical Approach. Oxford University Press: Oxford.Google Scholar
Enders, CK (2001). The performance of full information likelihood estimator in multiple regression models with missing data. Educational and Psychological Measurement 61, 713–740.Google Scholar
Fairburn, CG (2008). Cognitive Behavior Therapy and Eating Disorders. Guilford Press: New York.Google ScholarPubMed
Fairburn, CG, Cooper, Z (1993). The Eating Disorder Examination (12th edition). In Binge Eating: Nature, Assessment, and Treatment (ed. Fairburn, C. G. and Wilson, G. T.), pp. 317–360. Guilford Press: New York.Google Scholar
Franzoi, SL, Shields, SA (1984). The Body Esteem Scale: multidimensional structure and sex differences in a college population. Journal of Personality Assessment 48, 173–178.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Garner, DM, Olmstead, MP, Polivy, J (1983). Development and validation of a multidimensional eating disorder inventory for anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. International Journal of Eating Disorders 2, 15–34.3.0.CO;2-6>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goldfein, JA, Walsh, BT, Midlarsky, E (2000). Influence of shape and weight on self-evaluation in bulimia nervosa. International Journal of Eating Disorders 27, 435–445.3.0.CO;2-2>CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Grilo, CM, Crosby, RD, Masheb, RM, White, MA, Peterson, CB, Wonderlich, SA, Engel, SG, Crow, SJ, Mitchell, JE (2009). Overvaluation of shape and weight in binge eating disorder, bulimia nervosa, and sub-threshold bulimia nervosa. Behaviour Research and Therapy 47, 692–696.Google Scholar
Heath, AC, Howells, W, Kirk, KM, Madden, PAF, Bucholz, KK, Nelson, EC, Slutske, WS, Statham, DJ, Martin, NG (2001). Predictors of non-response to a questionnaire survey of a volunteer twin panel: findings from the Australian 1989 twin cohort. Twin Research 4, 73–80.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Heatherton, TF, Polivy, J (1991). Development and validation of a scale for measuring state self-esteem. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 60, 895–910.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Keski-Rahkonnen, A, Bulik, CM, Neale, BM, Rose, RJ, Rissanen, A, Kaprio, K (2005). Body dissatisfaction and drive for thinness in young adult twins. International Journal of Eating Disorders 37, 188–199.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Killen, JD, Taylor, C, Hayward, C, Haydel, K, Wilson, DM, Hammer, L, Kraemer, H, Blair-Greiner, A, Stratchowski, D (1996). Weight concerns influence the development of eating disorders: a 4-year prospective study. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 64, 936–940.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Klump, KL, Burt, A, Spanos, A, McGue, M, Iacono, WG, Wade, TD (2009). Age differences in genetic and environmental influences on weight and shape concerns. International Journal of Eating Disorders. Published online: 30 November 2009. doi:10.1002/eat.20772.Google Scholar
Little, RJA, Rubin, DB (1987). Statistical Analysis with Missing Data. Wiley & Sons: New York.Google Scholar
Maes, HH, Neale, MC, Eaves, LJ (1997). Genetic and environmental factors in relative body weight and human adiposity. Behavior Genetics 27, 325–351.Google Scholar
Masheb, RM, Grilo, CM (2003). The nature of body image disturbance in patients with binge eating disorder. International Journal of Eating Disorders 33, 333–341.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Masheb, RM, Grilo, CM, Burke-Martindale, CH, Rothschild, BS (2006). Evaluating oneself by shape and weight is not the same as being dissatisfied about shape and weight: a longitudinal examination in severely obese gastric bypass patients. International Journal of Eating Disorders 39, 716–720.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mond, JM, Hay, PJ, Rodgers, B, Owen, C (2007). Recurrent binge eating with and without the ‘undue influence of weight or shape on self-evaluation’: implications for the diagnosis of binge eating disorder. Behaviour Research and Therapy 45, 929–938.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Neale, MC (1997). Mx: Statistical Modeling, 2nd edn. Department of Psychiatry, Medical College of Virginia: Richmond, VA.Google Scholar
Peterson, C, Crosby, R, Wonderlich, SA, Joiner, T, Crow, SJ, Mitchell, JE, Bardone-Cone, AM, Klein, M, le Grange, D (2007). Psychometric properties of the Eating Disorder Examination-Questionnaire: factor structure and internal consistency. International Journal of Eating Disorders 40, 386–389.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rodin, J, Silberstein, L, Striegel-Moore, R (1984). Women and weight: a normative discontent. Nebraska Symposium on Motivation 32, 267–307.Google Scholar
Rosenberg, M (1960). Society and the Adolescent Self-Image. Princeton University Press: Princeton.Google Scholar
Roy, MA, Neale, MC, Kendler, KS (1995). The genetic epidemiology of self-esteem. British Journal of Psychiatry 166, 813–820.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Steele, AL, Wade, TD (2008). A randomised trial investigating guided self-help to reduce perfectionism and its impact on bulimia nervosa. Behaviour Research and Therapy 46, 1316–1323.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Stice, E (2002). Risk and maintenance factors for eating pathology: a meta-analytic review. Psychological Bulletin 128, 825–848.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stice, E, Shaw, H, Burton, E, Wade, E (2006). Dissonance and healthy weight eating disorder prevention programs: a randomized efficacy trial. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 74, 263–275.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Stunkard, A, Sorenson, T, Schulsinger, F (1983). Use of the Danish adoption register for the study of obesity and thinness. In The Genetics of Neurological and Psychiatric Disorders (ed. Kety, S., Rowland, L. P., Sidman, R. L. and Matthysse, S. W.), pp. 115–120. Raven: New York.Google Scholar
Thompson, JK (1995). Assessment of Body Image. Handbook of Assessment Methods for Eating Behaviors and Weight-Related Problems. Measures, Theory and Research. Sage Publications: Thousand Oaks.Google Scholar
Tiggemann, M (2005). Body dissatisfaction and adolescent self-esteem: prospective findings. Body Image 2, 129–135.Google Scholar
Tiggemann, M, Lynch, JE (2001). Body image across the life span in adult women: the role of self-objectification. Developmental Psychology 37, 243–253.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Veale, D (2002). Overvalued ideas: a conceptual analysis. Behaviour Research and Therapy 40, 383–400.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wade, TD, Bergin, JL, Martin, NG, Gillespie, NA, Fairburn, CG (2006 a). A transdiagnostic approach to understanding eating disorders: a twin study examining a dimensional model. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease 194, 510–517.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wade, TD, Bergin, JL, Tiggemann, M, Bulik, CM, Fairburn, CG (2006 b). Prevalence and long-term course of lifetime eating disorders in an adult Australian twin cohort. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry 40, 121–128.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wade, TD, Bulik, CM (2007). Shared genetic and environmental risk factors between undue influence of body shape and weight on self evaluation and dimensions of perfectionism. Psychological Medicine 37, 635–644.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wade, TD, Bulik, CM, Heath, AC, Martin, NG, Eaves, LJ (2001). The influence of genetic and environmental factors in estimations of current body size, desired body size, and body dissatisfaction. Twin Research 4, 260–265.Google Scholar
Wade, TD, Byrne, S, Bryant-Waugh, R (2008). The Eating Disorder Examination: norms and construct validity with young and middle adolescent girls. International Journal of Eating Disorders 41, 551–558.Google Scholar
Wade, TD, Crosby, RD, Martin, NG (2006 c). Use of latent profile analysis to identify eating disorder phenotypes in an adult Australian twin cohort. Archives of General Psychiatry 63, 1377–1384.Google Scholar
Wade, TD, George, WM, Atkinson, M (2009). A randomised controlled trial of brief interventions for body dissatisfaction. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 77, 845–854.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wade, TD, Martin, NG, Tiggemann, M (1998). Genetic and environmental risk factors for the weight and shape concern characteristic of bulimia nervosa. Psychological Medicine 28, 761–771.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wade, TD, Tiggemann, M, Martin, NG, Heath, AC (1997). Characteristics of interview refusers: women who decline to participate in interviews relating to eating. International Journal of Eating Disorders 22, 95–99.3.0.CO;2-H>CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wilksch, SM, Wade, TD (2010). Risk factors for clinically significant importance of shape and weight in adolescent girls. Journal of Abnormal Psychology 119, 206–215.Google Scholar
Wilson, GT (1993). Assessment of binge eating. In Binge Eating: Nature, Assessment and Treatment (ed. Fairburn, C. G. and Wilson, G. T.), pp. 227–249. Guilford Press: New York.Google Scholar