Rebecca L. Rogers

Social physique anxiety and disordered eating: what’s the connection?

Social physique anxiety (SPA) is highly correlated with other body image measures that have been considered to be important in understanding eating disorders. However, SPA has not been directly studied with respect to eating disorders. Thus, the purpose of this investigation was to examine the link between SPA and measures of eating disorder symptomatology to determine if SPA should be considered as an additional risk factor in the prediction of eating disturbances. One hundred and sixty female undergraduates completed questionnaires measuring body mass index (BMI), social physique anxiety (SPAS), anorexic symptoms (EAT), bulimic symptoms (BULIT-R), depression (CES-D), self-esteem (SES) and obligatory exercise (OEQ). Regression analyses revealed that SPA and depression were the psychological correlates that predicted bulimic symptomatology and that SPA, depression, and obligatory exercise predicted anorexic symptomatology; all variables were positively related to eating disorder symptoms. Overall, the results indicate that social physique anxiety appears to be a useful construct for understanding eating disorder symptoms in female undergraduates.

Extending the Discussion of Eating Disorders to Include Men and Athletes

We commend the authors of this special issue on their thorough reviews of the etiology, assessment, and treatment of eating disorders in women. As noted by Kashubeck-West and Mintz (2001 [this issue]), counseling psychologists need to be informed about eating disorders. Despite this need, little eating disorder research is available through our field’s primary journals (Kashubeck-West & Mintz, 2001), which may send the unfortunate message that eating disorders are neither important nor relevant to counseling psychologists. Thus, a special issue on this topic is long overdue and should serve as an excellent resource for counseling psychologists, regardless of their previous level of involvement with eating disorders. To add something of value, we have chosen to address two topics that were excluded from the original collection of articles. We do not disagree with the organization of the special issue and its focus on women. The realities of space limitations and available research, and the fact that women make up approximately 90% of those with eating disorders (American Psychiatric Association [APA], 1994), make the authors’ choices understandable. Even so, we would not want counseling psychologists to be left with the belief that only women are at risk. Thus, we have chosen to focus on two populations— men and athletes—in which eating disorders do exist and may be more of a problem than previously thought (Hausenblaus & Carron, 1999). Clearly, our own space limitations prevent us from conducting an exhaustive review of the current research on the etiology, assessment, and treatment of men and athletes. Instead, we have chosen to focus on a few relevant topics, making the case for why counseling psychologists need to keep these two groups in mind when assessing individuals for disordered eating and when conducting research on eating disorders.