Body-, Eating-, and Exercise-Related Comparisons During Eating Disorder Recovery and Validation of the BEECOM-R

Jessica F. Saunders, Asia A. Eaton, Ellen E. Fitzsimmons-Craft

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

11 Scopus citations

Abstract

Social comparison tendencies are strongly associated with body dissatisfaction and disordered eating. In the current study, we quantitatively examined the structure and predictive value of these constructs during eating disorder recovery. We revised an existing measure of body-, eating-, and exercise-related social comparisons, the Body, Eating, and Exercise Comparison Orientation Measure (BEECOM), to improve psychometric properties. We also assessed the psychometric properties of the shortened Body, Eating, and Exercise Comparison Orientation Measure-Revised (BEECOM-R) in a comparison sample, resulting in an abbreviated measure suitable for recovering, clinical, and non-clinical samples. Finally, we used the revised measure to examine the additive influence of body-, eating-, and exercise-related comparisons on shape and weight dissatisfaction and disordered eating cognitions among 150 women (ages of 18–35 years) in self-identified recovery. Results suggest that body-, eating-, and exercise-related social comparisons all continue to correlate with body dissatisfaction and disordered eating during recovery. A minority of participants reported these comparisons to be helpful during the recovery process. We recommend social comparison as a clinical target for most women seeking support for eating pathology. Additional online materials for this article are available on PWQ’s website at http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/suppl/10.1177/0361684319851718

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)494-508
Number of pages15
JournalPsychology of Women Quarterly
Volume43
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 1 2019

Keywords

  • body dissatisfaction
  • eating disorder
  • eating pathology
  • recovery
  • social comparison

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