Bailey, N. and Waller, G. orcid.org/0000-0001-7794-9546 (2017) Body checking in non-clinical women: experimental evidence of a specific impact on fear of uncontrollable weight gain. International Journal of Eating Disorders , 50 (6). ISSN 0276-3478
Abstract
Body checking is used widely among clinical and non-clinical individuals. It is suggested to be a safety behavior, reducing anxiety initially but potentially enhancing eating and shape concerns in the longer term. However, there is little causal evidence of those negative effects. This experimental study tests the potential negative impact of body checking. Fifty non-clinical women took part in a study of the effects of body checking in naturalistic settings. Each checked their wrist size every 15 minutes for eight hours on one day, then did not check the next day (order randomized). The impact on eating cognitions and body dissatisfaction was measured at the end of each day, and levels of change in those characteristics were also associated with eating pathology levels. Body checking did not result in more negative general eating attitudes or body dissatisfaction, but did result in a significant increase in a specific cognition that is hypothesised to be relevant to eating pathology - the fear of uncontrollable weight gain following eating. This impact was greater among those women with more negative existing eating attitudes. These findings add to the small experimental evidence base, demonstrating negative causal links between body checking and eating pathology. The findings need to be extended to clinical groups, but support the use of existing cognitive-behavioral methods to reduce body checking behavior.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
---|---|
Authors/Creators: |
|
Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2017 Wiley. This is an author produced version of a paper subsequently published in International Journal of Eating Disorders . Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. |
Keywords: | body checking; body image; eating pathology; fear of uncontrollable weight gain |
Dates: |
|
Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Science (Sheffield) > Department of Psychology (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 02 Feb 2017 11:33 |
Last Modified: | 30 Jun 2023 09:57 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Wiley |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1002/eat.22676 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:111130 |