Dying to be thin: the effects of mortality salience and body mass index on restricted eating among women.
Following terror management theory, the authors suggest women's striving to attain a thin physique is fueled in part by existential concerns. In three studies, women restricted consumption of a nutritious but fattening food in response to reminders of mortality (mortality salience; MS). When conducted in private (Study 1), this effect was found among women but not men; when replicated in a group setting in which social comparison was likely (Studies 2 and 3), only women who were relatively less successful attaining the thin ideal (i.e., high body mass index; BMI) restricted eating after MS. In Study 3, MS caused high BMI women to perceive themselves as more discrepant from their ideal thinness; this perceived failure mediated the effects of MS and BMI on eating behavior. Findings are discussed from a self-regulatory framework, which considered in the context of pressures for women to be thin, can shed light on health risk behavior.
Goldenberg
Jamie L
JL
University of California-Davis, USA. jgoldenb@cas.usf.edu
Arndt
Jamie
J
Hart
Joshua
J
Brown
Megan
M
D000328:Adult; D001293:Attitude to Death; D001828:Body Image; D015992:Body Mass Index; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D001068:Feeding and Eating Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012649:Self Concept; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires