The association of energy intake bias with psychological scores of women.
OBJECTIVE
Assess the association between reporting bias of dietary energy intake and the behavioral and psychological profiles in women.


METHODS
At baseline a series of questionnaires were administered to 37 women, (the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale, Weinberger Adjustment Inventory (WAI), the Eating Disorder Inventory (EDI), the Restraint Scale and Sorensen-Stunkard's silhouettes). Subjects received training on how to record dietary records. Subjects recorded three days of dietary records to measure energy intake (EI) during a study to determine total energy expenditure (TEE) using doubly labeled water. Reporting accuracy (RA = EI/TEE x 100) was determined for each subject. Statistical analysis of the data used a mixed effects model accounting for within subject variability to determine if the psychological scores were associated with reporting accuracy.


METHODS
Women were recruited with local advertisements in Tucson, Arizona. The women had a mean ( +/- 1 s.d.) age of 43.6 +/- 9.3 yrs, body mass index (BMI) of 28.7 +/- 8.5 kg/m2 and total body fat (%TBF) of 31.9 +/- 7.3%.


RESULTS
Age and %TBF were significantly and inversely associated with RA. Furthermore, Social Desirability was negatively associated with RA. Body dissatisfaction and associating a smaller body size than one's own as being more healthy were also associated with a lower RA.


CONCLUSIONS
These results suggest that Social Desirability and self image of body shape are associated with RA. Modifications in subject training may reduce the effect of these factors on RA.
Taren
D L
DL
Arizona Prevention Center, The University of Arizona, College of Medicine, Tuscon 85719, USA. taren@u.arizona.edu
Tobar
M
M
Hill
A
A
Howell
W
W
Shisslak
C
C
Bell
I
I
Ritenbaugh
C
C
D000328:Adult; D015982:Bias; D001828:Body Image; D015992:Body Mass Index; D015930:Diet Records; D004522:Educational Status; D002149:Energy Intake; D004734:Energy Metabolism; D005247:Feeding Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D001068:Feeding and Eating Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D011580:Psychological Techniques; D012649:Self Concept; D012928:Social Desirability; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires