Dieting, dissatisfaction with figure, and sex role orientation in women

Abstract

In a study of 540 women residing in Ede, the Netherlands, the relationships between dieting, satisfaction with figure, and sex‐role orientation was researched. Other variables in the study were actual body mass, level of education, anxiety, and negative self‐concept. Degree of sex‐role orientation was found to be significantly related to dieting and satisfaction with one's figure. However, the most striking finding was the high relationship between dieting and satisfaction with one's figure and actual body mass. In contrast to studies on college students, this suggests that, in the present study on community residents, concerns about figure and body weight are not likely to be preludes of epidemics of anorexia or bulimia nervosa. Instead, these concerns are understandable, since they seem based on actual (over)weight for most of the women.

Psychosocial predictors of weight loss behaviors and binge eating in adolescent girls and boys

“…These findings agree with those of Patton et al (1990) in adolescents, andVan Strien (1989) in older women and suggest that dieters are not trying to live up to a smaller ideal than non-dieters, but rather they may simply be trying to live up to societal norms of appropriate size. The use of weight loss behaviors in both sexes was related primarily to a desire to be thinner.…”

Psychosocial predictors of weight loss behaviors and binge eating in adolescent girls and boys

“…These findings agree with those of Patton et al (1990) in adolescents, andVan Strien (1989) in older women and suggest that dieters are not trying to live up to a smaller ideal than non-dieters, but rather they may simply be trying to live up to societal norms of appropriate size. The use of weight loss behaviors in both sexes was related primarily to a desire to be thinner.…”

The bold and the beautiful. Influence of body size of televised media models on body dissatisfaction and actual food intake

“…Apparently, even subtle changes in body size of the actresses resulted in changes in body dissatisfaction and food intake differently for unrestrained and restrained eaters. In general, the restrained eaters felt worse about their bodies than the unrestrained eaters, which in itself is not surprising given the substantial empirical support for the link between restrained eating and body dissatisfaction in North American (e.g., Dunkley, Wertheim, & Paxton, 2001;Stice & Shaw, 2002) and European studies (Van Strien, 1989;Van Strien, Engels, Van Leeuwe, & Snoek, 2005). However, restrained eaters felt slightly worse when exposed to average sized characters than when exposed to thin characters, as opposed to unrestrained eaters.…”

Theories of body image disturbance: Perceptual, developmental, and sociocultural factors.

“…Timko, Striegel-Moore, Silberstein, and Rodin ( 1987) demonstrated that femininity as measured by the Personal Attributes Questionnaire (Spence & Helmreich, 1978), significantly correlated with perceived importance of appearance, whereas masculinity did not. Further, gender-typed women have been found to have lower body satisfaction than their more masculine or androgynous peers (Jackson, Sullivan, & Rostker, 1988;van Strien, 1989). Glidden and Tracey (1989) demonstrated that tailoring treatment programs for body image and weight concerns to different gender role attitudes may be beneficial.…”

Psychosocial predictors of weight loss behaviors and binge eating in adolescent girls and boys

“…These findings agree with those of Patton et al (1990) in adolescents, andVan Strien (1989) in older women and suggest that dieters are not trying to live up to a smaller ideal than non-dieters, but rather they may simply be trying to live up to societal norms of appropriate size. The use of weight loss behaviors in both sexes was related primarily to a desire to be thinner.…”

The bold and the beautiful. Influence of body size of televised media models on body dissatisfaction and actual food intake

“…Apparently, even subtle changes in body size of the actresses resulted in changes in body dissatisfaction and food intake differently for unrestrained and restrained eaters. In general, the restrained eaters felt worse about their bodies than the unrestrained eaters, which in itself is not surprising given the substantial empirical support for the link between restrained eating and body dissatisfaction in North American (e.g., Dunkley, Wertheim, & Paxton, 2001;Stice & Shaw, 2002) and European studies (Van Strien, 1989;Van Strien, Engels, Van Leeuwe, & Snoek, 2005). However, restrained eaters felt slightly worse when exposed to average sized characters than when exposed to thin characters, as opposed to unrestrained eaters.…”

Theories of body image disturbance: Perceptual, developmental, and sociocultural factors.

“…Timko, Striegel-Moore, Silberstein, and Rodin ( 1987) demonstrated that femininity as measured by the Personal Attributes Questionnaire (Spence & Helmreich, 1978), significantly correlated with perceived importance of appearance, whereas masculinity did not. Further, gender-typed women have been found to have lower body satisfaction than their more masculine or androgynous peers (Jackson, Sullivan, & Rostker, 1988;van Strien, 1989). Glidden and Tracey (1989) demonstrated that tailoring treatment programs for body image and weight concerns to different gender role attitudes may be beneficial.…”

Psychosocial predictors of weight loss behaviors and binge eating in adolescent girls and boys

“…These findings agree with those of Patton et al (1990) in adolescents, andVan Strien (1989) in older women and suggest that dieters are not trying to live up to a smaller ideal than non-dieters, but rather they may simply be trying to live up to societal norms of appropriate size. The use of weight loss behaviors in both sexes was related primarily to a desire to be thinner.…”

The bold and the beautiful. Influence of body size of televised media models on body dissatisfaction and actual food intake

“…Apparently, even subtle changes in body size of the actresses resulted in changes in body dissatisfaction and food intake differently for unrestrained and restrained eaters. In general, the restrained eaters felt worse about their bodies than the unrestrained eaters, which in itself is not surprising given the substantial empirical support for the link between restrained eating and body dissatisfaction in North American (e.g., Dunkley, Wertheim, & Paxton, 2001;Stice & Shaw, 2002) and European studies (Van Strien, 1989;Van Strien, Engels, Van Leeuwe, & Snoek, 2005). However, restrained eaters felt slightly worse when exposed to average sized characters than when exposed to thin characters, as opposed to unrestrained eaters.…”

Theories of body image disturbance: Perceptual, developmental, and sociocultural factors.

“…Timko, Striegel-Moore, Silberstein, and Rodin ( 1987) demonstrated that femininity as measured by the Personal Attributes Questionnaire (Spence & Helmreich, 1978), significantly correlated with perceived importance of appearance, whereas masculinity did not. Further, gender-typed women have been found to have lower body satisfaction than their more masculine or androgynous peers (Jackson, Sullivan, & Rostker, 1988;van Strien, 1989). Glidden and Tracey (1989) demonstrated that tailoring treatment programs for body image and weight concerns to different gender role attitudes may be beneficial.…”