Investigation of social influence on eating disorder tendencies and dieting behavior among female students

• Published in: JAPANESE JOURNAL OF BEHAVIOR THERAPY Vol. 25; no. 2; pp. 11 - 23
• Main Authors: SAKANO, Yuji, KUMANO, Hiroaki, MATSUMOTO, Satoko
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: Japanese
• Published: Japanese Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies( JABCT ) 30.09.1999; JAPANESE ASSOCIATION OF BEHAVIOR THERAPY; 一般社団法人 日本認知・行動療法学会
• Subjects: body dissatisfaction; dieting behavior; drive for thinness; eating disorders; social pressure on thinness; やせに対する社会的圧力; やせ願望; ダイエット行動; 摂食障害; 自己像不満
• ISSN: 0910-6529; 2424-2594
• DOI: 10.24468/jjbt.25.2_11

The purpose of this study was to investigate from whose social pressure on thinness (SPT) has significant influence, and how it is related to the development of eating disorder symptoms such as dieting behavior, food preoccupation, and body dissatisfaction (BD). In this study, mother, father, siblings, female friends, and male friends were prepared as the sources of SPT. Subjects were 2,866 female students, whose mean age was 17.20 (SD =1.81). As results, SPT from all sources was related to BD, drive for thinness (DT), eating disorder tendencies and dieting behavior. Of all the sources of SPT, female friends showed the highest correlation with eating disorder tendencies, and father showed the lowest . Results of regression analysis showed % of ideal body weight (%IBW) was more influential to BD than SPT, but to other variables, SPT was much more influential. Result of a path analysis showed %IBW was related only through BD, however, SPT directly influenced not only BD but also DT and food preoccupation, and reached to dieting behavior.