TY - JOUR
T1 - Body-, Eating-, and Exercise-Related Comparisons During Eating Disorder Recovery and Validation of the BEECOM-R
AU - Saunders, Jessica F.
AU - Eaton, Asia A.
AU - Fitzsimmons-Craft, Ellen E.
N1 - Funding Information:
The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This work was funded by the APA Division 35 Janet Hyde Dissertation Grant awarded to Jessica F. Saunders. This funding source had no role in how the research was disseminated.
Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2019.
PY - 2019/12/1
Y1 - 2019/12/1
N2 - 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
AB - 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
KW - body dissatisfaction
KW - eating disorder
KW - eating pathology
KW - recovery
KW - social comparison
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85066875244&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/0361684319851718
DO - 10.1177/0361684319851718
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85066875244
SN - 0361-6843
VL - 43
SP - 494
EP - 508
JO - Psychology of Women Quarterly
JF - Psychology of Women Quarterly
IS - 4
ER -