No abstract

Conceptually, eating disorder recovery should include physical, behavioral, and psychological components, but such a comprehensive approach has not been consistently employed. Guided by theory and recent recovery research, we identified a "fully recovered" group (n=20) based on physical (body mass index), behavioral (absence of eating disorder behaviors), and psychological (Eating Disorder Examination-Questionnaire) indices, and compared them with groups of partially recovered (n=15), active eating disorder (n=53), and healthy controls (n=67). The fully recovered group was indistinguishable from controls on all eating disorder-related measures used, while the partially recovered group was less disordered than the active eating disorder group on some measures, but not on body image. Regarding psychosocial functioning, both the fully and partially recovered groups had psychosocial functioning similar to the controls, but there was a pattern of more of the partially recovered group reporting eating disorder aspects interfering with functioning. Regarding other psychopathology, the fully recovered group was no more likely than the controls to experience current Axis I pathology, but they did have elevated rates of current anxiety disorder. Results suggest that a stringent definition of recovery from an eating disorder is meaningful. Clinical implications and future directions regarding defining eating disorder recovery are discussed.

The Sociocultural Attitudes Towards Appearance Questionnaire-3 (SATAQ-3) and its earlier versions are measures designed to assess societal and interpersonal aspects of appearance ideals.Correlational, structural equation modeling, and prospective studies of the SATAQ-3 have shown consistent and significant associations with measures of body image disturbance and eating pathology. In the current investigation, the SATAQ-3 was revised to improve upon some conceptual limitations and was evaluated in four US and three international female samples, as well as a US male sample. In Study 1, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses for a sample of women from the Southeastern US (N = 859) indicated a 22-item scale with five factors: Study 2 replicated the factorial validity, reliability, and convergent validity of the SATAQ-4 in an international sample of women drawn from Italy, England, and Australia (N = 362). Study 3 examined a sample of college males from the US (N = 271); the five-factor solution was largely replicated, yet there was some evidence of an underlying structure unique to men. Future research avenues include additional item testing and modification of the scale for men, as well as adaptation of the measure for children and adolescents.Keywords: SATAQ, internalization, appearance ideals, sociocultural pressure, measurement, body image, eating disturbance. DEVELOPMENT AND VALIDATION OF THE SATAQ-4 5 Development and Validation of the Sociocultural AttitudesTowards Appearance Research has demonstrated an array of negative consequences associated with body image disturbance and eating pathology (e.g., decreased self-esteem, negative affect, unhealthy weight control practices, and serious medical complications) (Grossbard, Lee, Neighbors, & Larimer, 2009; Mellor, Fuller-Tyszkie, McCabe, & Ricciardelli, 2010;Mintz & Betz, 1988;Rodin, Silberstein, & Striegel-Moore, 1984;Stice, 2002). Consequently, researchers have sought to understand the etiology and maintenance of these disorders in order to illuminate potential points of intervention (Cash & Smolak, 2011;Stice, 2002). One prominent etiological model that has received strong empirical support is the tripartite influence model (Thompson, Heinberg, Altabe, & Tantleff-Dunn, 1999), which is based on socioculturual theories of body image disturbance and disordered eating (Keel & Forney, 2013;Tiggemann, 2011). This model posits that individuals are pressured by powerful social agents (i.e., peers, family, and the media) to adhere to culturally-sanctioned appearance ideals, which emphasize thinness for women and muscularity for men. These social pressures are proposed to lead individuals to internalize relevant appearance ideals (i.e., to set the ideal as one's own personal standard of attractiveness).Internalization of the often unattainable ideal is thought to lead to body dissatisfaction,which is an established risk factor for unhealthy weight control practices and disordered eating (Thompson, Schaefer, & Menzel, 2012).Because females report higher le...

The results of this study provide support for the internal consistency of the EDE-Q and indicate a need for further examination of the factor structure of this instrument.

A longstanding problem in the field is that there are almost as many different definitions of recovery in eating disorders as there are studies on the topic. Yet, there has been a general shift to accepting that psychological/cognitive symptoms are important to recovery in addition to physical and behavioral indices. Further, several operationalizations of recovery have been proposed over the past two decades, and some efforts to validate operationalizations exist. However, this work has had limited impact and uptake, such that the field is suffering from "broken record syndrome," where calls are made for universal definitions time and time again. It is critical that proposed operationalizations be compared empirically to help arrive at a consensus definition and that institutional/organizational support help facilitate this. Themes in recent recovery research include identifying predictors, examining biological/neuropsychological factors, and considering severe and enduring anorexia nervosa. From qualitative research, those who have experienced eating disorders highlight recovery as a journey, as well as factors such as hope, self-acceptance, and benefiting from support from others as integral to the process of recovery. The field urgently needs to implement a universal definition of recovery that is backed by evidence, that can parsimoniously be implemented in clinical practice, and that will lead to greater harmonization of scientific findings.