Effects of suppressing thoughts about body weight: a comparison of dieters and nondieters.
OBJECTIVE
Experimental suppression of a neutral target thought often results in a subsequent "rebound" in the frequency of the thought. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that suppression of weight-related thoughts contributes to body weight preoccupations characteristic of dieters.


METHODS
Subjects included 19 female dieters and 21 female nondieters. Following a randomized design, subjects were asked either to suppress (experimental condition) or express (control condition) the thought of weighing themselves.


RESULTS
Nondieters demonstrated a significant rebound in frequency of the target thought following suppression (p < .05). Dieters expressed weight-related thoughts more frequently than nondieters, but did not show a rebound following target thought suppression.


CONCLUSIONS
Thought suppression may foster development of weight-related preoccupations whereas the role suppression plays in the maintenance of dieters' weight-related preoccupations remains unclear.
Harnden
J L
JL
Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA.
McNally
R J
RJ
Jimerson
D C
DC
D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001835:Body Weight; D004038:Diet, Reducing / Q000523:psychology*; D005247:Feeding Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007092:Imagination