title: The relationships among social comparisons, body surveillance, and body dissatisfaction in the natural environment.
abstract: We examined the relationships among social comparisons (i.e., body, eating, and exercise), body surveillance, and body dissatisfaction in the natural environment. Participants were 232 college women who completed a daily diary protocol for 2 weeks, responding to online surveys 3 times per day. When the contemporaneous relationships among these variables were examined in a single model, results indicated that comparing one's body, eating, or exercise to others or engaging in body surveillance was associated with elevated body dissatisfaction in the same short-term assessment period. Additionally, individuals with high trait-like engagement in body comparisons or body surveillance experienced higher levels of body dissatisfaction. Trait-like eating and exercise comparison tendencies did not predict unique variance in body dissatisfaction. When examined prospectively in a single model, trait-like body comparison and body surveillance remained predictors of body dissatisfaction, but the only more state-like behavior predictive of body dissatisfaction at the next assessment was eating comparison. Results provide support for the notion that naturalistic body dissatisfaction is predicted by both state- and trait-like characteristics. In particular, social comparisons (i.e., body, eating, and exercise) and body surveillance may function as proximal triggers for contemporaneous body dissatisfaction, with eating comparisons emerging as an especially important predictor of body dissatisfaction over time. Regarding trait-like predictors, general tendencies to engage in body comparisons and body surveillance may be more potent distal predictors of body dissatisfaction than general eating or exercise comparison tendencies.
authors: Washington University School of Medicine. Electronic address: fitzsimmonscrafte@psychiatry.wustl.edu.
authors: Ellen E
authors: EE
authors: Fitzsimmons-Craft
authors: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
authors: Anna M
authors: AM
authors: Bardone-Cone
authors: Neuropsychiatric Research Institute; University of North Dakota School of Medicine & Health Sciences.
authors: Stephen A
authors: SA
authors: Wonderlich
authors: Neuropsychiatric Research Institute; University of North Dakota School of Medicine & Health Sciences.
authors: Ross D
authors: RD
authors: Crosby
authors: Neuropsychiatric Research Institute; University of North Dakota School of Medicine & Health Sciences.
authors: Scott G
authors: SG
authors: Engel
authors: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Karolinska Institutet.
authors: Cynthia M
authors: CM
authors: Bulik
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001828:Body Image / Q000523:psychology*; D015444:Exercise / Q000523:psychology; D005247:Feeding Behavior / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008960:Models, Psychological; D010549:Personal Satisfaction; D011446:Prospective Studies; D057566:Self Report; D012925:Social Conformity; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: body dissatisfaction; body surveillance; daily diary; social comparison
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