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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: tracey.wade@flinders.edu.au)
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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

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