OBJECTIVE We examined the etiology of two disordered eating characteristics. METHOD Participants included 1,470 female adolescent and young adult twins and their female nontwin siblings. Phenotypic factor analyses of a seven-item eating pathology screening tool yielded two factors: weight and shape concerns and behaviors (WSCB) and binge eating (BE). Univariate and bivariate extended twin ana...

To test the eating disorder expectancy theory contention that expectancies for reinforcement from thinness play a causal role in body dissatisfaction and eating disorder symptoms, the authors manipulated expectancies in 2 studies. Participants were exposed to either a psychoeducational intervention or an experimental manipulation of thinness and restricting expectancies. Study 1 participants we...

OBJECTIVE This study was undertaken to compare ethnic and gender differences regarding self-esteem and various disordered eating attitudes and behaviors among elite college athletes. METHOD A total of 1445 student athletes from 11 Division I schools were surveyed using a 133-item questionnaire. RESULTS White female athletes reported significantly lower self-esteem than Black female, Black m...

OBJECTIVE Although many studies have identified associations between childhood maltreatment and later substance use and disordered eating, few have examined causal or explanatory pathways, and whether victim characteristics predict the development of one versus the other of these outcomes remains uninvestigated. Furthermore, relatively little childhood maltreatment research has examined Latino ...

Normative data on the Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire for samples of undergraduate men in the United States are presented. Participants were 404 undergraduate men aged 18-26 who completed the EDE-Q as part of two larger survey studies. Mean scores, standard deviations, and percentile ranks for the Global score and four subscale scores are provided. Data regarding the frequency of obje...

Research on men’s health has increasingly recognized the importance of depression and eating disorders among men. The present study sought to extend extant work on self-concept and depression to men, incorporating muscularity-related attitudes and behaviors, and also incorporating risk for disordered eating. Two samples, one of 204 heterosexual college men and one of 197 gay and bisexual men sa...

Experiential avoidance, the refusal to accept contact with unpleasant private experiences, is believed to play a role in the onset and maintenance of eating disorders. Preliminary evidence suggests that mindfulness- and acceptance-based interventions that reduce avoidance may be effective in treating disordered eating behaviors. The purpose of the current investigation was to examine whether on...