Anika Bauer

German version of the Multidimensional Body-Self Relations Questionnaire – Appearance Scales (MBSRQ-AS): Confirmatory factor analysis and validation

The Multidimensional Body-Self Relations Questionnaire (MBSRQ) is a widely used questionnaire that measures body image as a multidimensional construct. The Appearance Scales (AS) of the MBSRQ (Appearance Evaluation, Appearance Orientation, Body Areas Satisfaction, Overweight Preoccupation and Self-Classified Weight) are subscales which facilitate a parsimonious assessment of appearance-related aspects of body image. The current study tested the psychometric properties and factor structure of a German translation of the MBSRQ-AS. Participants were n=230 female patients with the SCID diagnosis of an eating disorder and n=293 female healthy controls. In a confirmatory factor analysis, convincing goodness-of-fit indices emerged. The subscales of the questionnaire yielded good reliability and convergent and discriminant validity coefficients, with most items showing excellent characteristics. Like the English version, the German adaptation of the questionnaire can be recommended for a multidimensional assessment of appearance-related aspects of body image in both research and clinical practice.

Selective Visual Attention Towards Oneself and Associated State Body Satisfaction: an Eye-Tracking Study in Adolescents with Different Types of Eating Disorders.

The development of eating disorders is associated with a body-related attentional bias. Although eating disorders are especially prevalent in adolescence, so far, no study has analyzed gaze patterns and state body image in response to viewing one’s own body in youth. To fill this gap, the present study aimed to examine a body-related attentional bias and state body satisfaction in adolescents with various forms of eating disorders. Girls with anorexia nervosa, restrictive type (AN-R; n = 30), anorexia nervosa, binge eating/purging type (AN-BP; n = 26), bulimia nervosa (BN; n = 22), clinical controls with anxiety disorders (n = 20) and healthy controls (n = 43) looked at photographs of their own and a peer’s body, while their spontaneous eye movements were recorded. After stimulus presentation, state body satisfaction and individual attractiveness ratings for areas of the presented stimuli were assessed. An analysis of variance revealed that participants of all subgroups showed an attentive preference for unattractive areas of one’s own body. Girls with AN-R attended significantly longer to unattractive body areas than both control groups and significantly shorter to attractive body areas than healthy controls. State body dissatisfaction was more prominent in all eating disorder subgroups, with significantly lower scores in BN compared to AN-R. In general, the higher the state body dissatisfaction, the stronger was the deficit orientation on one’s own body. The attentional bias towards unattractive body areas, which is most pronounced in AN-R, indicates that interventions aiming to modify distorted attention might be promising in the prevention and treatment of eating disorders in adolescence.

Visual processing of one's own body over the course of time: Evidence for the vigilance-avoidance theory in adolescents with anorexia nervosa?

OBJECTIVE The vigilance-avoidance theory postulates a specific threat-related pattern of attention deployment, characterized by initial orientation towards fear-evoking stimuli and subsequent directing of attention away from them. The current eye-tracking study was the first to examine the applicability of the theory for patients with eating disorders, who perceive their own body as a highly aversive, threat-evoking stimulus. METHOD N = 56 female adolescents with anorexia nervosa (AN) and n = 43 healthy controls (HC) aged 13-18 viewed own-body pictures while their eye movements were recorded. Relative fixation times on self-defined unattractive body areas were compared between the groups by sequencing the overall presentation time of 6,000 ms into six intervals à 1,000 ms. RESULTS Participants with AN showed a significantly stronger attentional bias for unattractive body areas than HC within the time intervals 1, 2, and 3. However, for intervals 4, 5, and 6, no significant group differences occurred. Within the AN group, the bias for unattractive body areas was significantly stronger in interval 1 compared to intervals 4, 5, and 6; whereas within the HC group, a stable pattern of attention deployment emerged. In AN, early attention deployment was positively correlated with the negative affect reported after photo presentation. DISCUSSION The early vigilance in AN and the subsequent decrease in attention to unattractive body parts is in line with our assumptions. However, no indication of attentional avoidance was found. The current findings partially support the vigilance-avoidance theory for the exposure to ones own body in adolescents with AN.

Different Facets of Body Image Disturbance in Binge Eating Disorder: A Review

The goal of the present review is to give an overview of the current findings on various facets of body image disturbance in Binge Eating Disorder such as body dissatisfaction, overconcern with weight and shape, body-related checking and avoidance behavior, misperception of body size, and body-related cognitive bias. In addition, treatments for a disturbed body image in BED and evidence of body image disturbance in youth with binge eating are reviewed. The results show that a disturbed body image in BED is present in the form of overconcern with weight and shape. Furthermore, there are hints that body dissatisfaction, as well as body-related checking and avoidance behavior, are also impaired. Research concerning misperception of body size in BED has been neglected so far, but first findings show that individuals with BED rate their own body shape rather accurately. Furthermore, there are first hints that body-related cognitive biases are present in individuals with BED. Moreover, in children and adolescents, there are first hints that body dissatisfaction, as well as shape and weight concerns, seem to be associated with loss of control and binge eating. Treatments aimed directly at the convertibility of a disturbed body image in BED have revealed encouraging outcomes. In conclusion, body image disturbance seems to occur in BED, and first studies show that it can be treated effectively.

Wie relevant sind Diagnostik und Behandlung der Körperbildstörung

Body image-related interventions become increasingly important in the treatment of anorexia and bulimia nervosa. Previous studies concerning body image disturbance conducted by means of diverse research methods focused on different components of body image - the perceptive, cognitive-emotional and the behavioral component. However, regarding the etiology, maintenance and treatment of body image disturbance in eating disorders, many questions remain unanswered. An integrative perspective on the different body image components within a theoretical framework as well as the development of specific body image-related interventions according to individual indications would be desirable.

Körperbezogene Aufmerksamkeitsverzerrungen bei Frauen und Männern

ZusammenfassungHintergrundAufmerksamkeitsverzerrungen bei der Verarbeitung körper- und figurbezogener Stimuli werden als aufrechterhaltender Faktor von Körperunzufriedenheit bzw. eines gestörten Körperbilds diskutiert.Ziel der ArbeitDer vorliegende Beitrag gibt einen Überblick über Studien zu körper- und figurbezogenen Aufmerksamkeitsverzerrungen bei Frauen und Männern.Material und MethodenVor dem Hintergrund eines heuristischen kognitiv-behavioralen Metamodells zu Entstehung und Aufrechterhaltung von Körperbildstörungen werden aktuelle Befunde zu selektiver körper- und figurbezogener Aufmerksamkeitslenkung, getrennt für Frauen und Männer, dargestellt. Zudem werden Ergebnisse zur experimentellen Modifikation körper- und figurbezogener Verzerrungstendenzen bei Frauen referiert sowie Implikationen für die therapeutische Praxis abgeleitet.Ergebnisse und DiskussionFür beide Geschlechter deuten die berichteten Ergebnisse darauf hin, dass (sub-)klinische Körperbildsorgen mit einer dysfunktionaleren Verarbeitung körper- und figurbezogener Stimuli einhergehen, insbesondere bei der Betrachtung des eigenen Körpers. Überdies sprechen die Befunde zur Modifikation attentionaler Verzerrungen bei Frauen für einen kausalen Zusammenhang zwischen selektiver Aufmerksamkeitslenkung auf negativ-valenzierte Körperstimuli und Körperunzufriedenheit.AbstractBackgroundAttentional bias during the processing of body and shape-related stimuli are assumed to perpetuate body dissatisfaction and a disturbed body image.ObjectivesThis article presents a review of currently available studies concerning body and shape-related attentional bias in both genders.Material and methodsIn the light of a heuristic cognitive-behavioral meta-model for the development and perpetuation of disturbed body images, recent findings on body and shape-related attentional bias are presented separately for women and men. Furthermore, findings on the experimental modification of this bias in women are presented and the implications for the therapeutic practice are deduced.Results and conclusionFor both genders the presented results indicate that (sub)clinical body image concerns are associated with a more dysfunctional processing of body and shape-related stimuli, especially with respect to one’s own body. Moreover, findings on the modification of attentional bias in women suggest a causal relationship between attention allocation towards negatively rated body stimuli and body dissatisfaction.

Familial transmission of a body-related attentional bias – An eye-tracking study in a nonclinical sample of female adolescents and their mothers

Background Previous research indicates that body image disturbance is transmitted from mother to daughter via modeling of maternal body-related behaviors and attitudes (indirect transmission) and via maternal body-related feedback (direct transmission). So far, the transmission of body-related attentional biases, which according to cognitive-behavioral theories play a prominent role in the development and maintenance of eating disorders, has not been analyzed. The current eye-tracking study applied the concepts of direct and indirect transmission to body-related attentional biases by examining body-related viewing patterns on self- and other-pictures within mother-daughter dyads. Methods Eye movements of N = 82 participants (n = 41 healthy female adolescents, mean age 15.82 years, SD = 1.80, and their mothers, mean age 47.78 years, SD = 4.52) were recorded while looking at whole-body pictures of themselves and a control peer. Based on fixations on self-defined attractive and unattractive body areas, visual attention bias scores were calculated for mothers and daughters, representing the pattern of body-related attention allocation. Based on mothers’ fixations on their own daughter’s and the adolescent peer’s body, a second visual attention bias score was calculated, reflecting the mothers’ viewing pattern on their own daughter. Results Analysis of variance revealed an attentional bias for self-defined unattractive body areas in adolescents. The girls’ visual attention bias score correlated significantly with their mothers’ bias score, indicating indirect transmission, and with their mothers’ second bias score, indicating direct transmission. Moreover, the girls’ bias score correlated significantly with negative body-related feedback from their mothers. Conclusions Female adolescents show a deficit-oriented attentional bias for one’s own and a peer’s body. The correlated body-related attention patterns imply that attentional biases might be transmitted directly and indirectly from mothers to daughters. Results underline the potential relevance of maternal influences for the development of body image disturbance in girls and suggest specific family-based approaches for the prevention and treatment of eating disorders.

Körperbezogene Aufmerksamkeitsverzerrungen bei Frauen und MännernBody-related attentional bias in women and men

ZusammenfassungHintergrundAufmerksamkeitsverzerrungen bei der Verarbeitung körper- und figurbezogener Stimuli werden als aufrechterhaltender Faktor von Körperunzufriedenheit bzw. eines gestörten Körperbilds diskutiert.Ziel der ArbeitDer vorliegende Beitrag gibt einen Überblick über Studien zu körper- und figurbezogenen Aufmerksamkeitsverzerrungen bei Frauen und Männern.Material und MethodenVor dem Hintergrund eines heuristischen kognitiv-behavioralen Metamodells zu Entstehung und Aufrechterhaltung von Körperbildstörungen werden aktuelle Befunde zu selektiver körper- und figurbezogener Aufmerksamkeitslenkung, getrennt für Frauen und Männer, dargestellt. Zudem werden Ergebnisse zur experimentellen Modifikation körper- und figurbezogener Verzerrungstendenzen bei Frauen referiert sowie Implikationen für die therapeutische Praxis abgeleitet.Ergebnisse und DiskussionFür beide Geschlechter deuten die berichteten Ergebnisse darauf hin, dass (sub-)klinische Körperbildsorgen mit einer dysfunktionaleren Verarbeitung körper- und figurbezogener Stimuli einhergehen, insbesondere bei der Betrachtung des eigenen Körpers. Überdies sprechen die Befunde zur Modifikation attentionaler Verzerrungen bei Frauen für einen kausalen Zusammenhang zwischen selektiver Aufmerksamkeitslenkung auf negativ-valenzierte Körperstimuli und Körperunzufriedenheit.AbstractBackgroundAttentional bias during the processing of body and shape-related stimuli are assumed to perpetuate body dissatisfaction and a disturbed body image.ObjectivesThis article presents a review of currently available studies concerning body and shape-related attentional bias in both genders.Material and methodsIn the light of a heuristic cognitive-behavioral meta-model for the development and perpetuation of disturbed body images, recent findings on body and shape-related attentional bias are presented separately for women and men. Furthermore, findings on the experimental modification of this bias in women are presented and the implications for the therapeutic practice are deduced.Results and conclusionFor both genders the presented results indicate that (sub)clinical body image concerns are associated with a more dysfunctional processing of body and shape-related stimuli, especially with respect to one’s own body. Moreover, findings on the modification of attentional bias in women suggest a causal relationship between attention allocation towards negatively rated body stimuli and body dissatisfaction.

Behandlung von Körperbildstörungen

Die kognitiv-verhaltenstherapeutische Behandlung von Korperbildstorungen stellt eine vielversprechende Erganzung der Standardtherapie von Anorexia und Bulimia nervosa dar. Ziele der Korperbildtherapie sind die Korrektur der verzerrten Korperwahrnehmung, der Abbau negativer korperbezogener Gedanken und Gefuhle sowie die Etablierung eines positiveren Umgangs mit dem eigenen Korper. Spezifische Interventionen setzen somit auf perzeptiver, kognitiver, emotionaler und Verhaltensebene an. Ein besonderer Fokus liegt auf der Durchfuhrung von Korperkonfrontationsubungen, im Rahmen derer eine systematische Betrachtung des eigenen Korpers erfolgt. Die Wirksamkeit korperbildspezifischer Interventionen bei Patientinnen mit Essstorungen konnte in verschiedenen Studien nachgewiesen werden.