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Body shape and weight as determinants of women’s self-esteem Geller, Josephine Amanda Caroline

Abstract

Shape- and weight-based self esteem was proposed to be a central cognitive component of the eating disorders. In this thesis, the psychometric properties of the Shape- and Weight-Based Selfesteem (SAWBS) Inventory, a newly-developed measure of the influence of shape and weight on feelings of self-worth, were determined. A preliminary examination of possible developmental precursors of shape- and weight-based self-esteem was also performed. SAWBS scores were stable over 1 week, and correlated with women's negative perceptions about their bodies in eating disorder and undergraduate control groups (EDG and UCG, respectively). In the UCG, SAWBS scores correlated with one of two measures of shape and weight cognitive schemata. The validity of shape- and weight-based self-esteem as a central feature of eating disorder symptomatology was supported in a number of ways. SAWBS scores correlated positively with eating disorder symptom scores in the UCG, and were significantly higher in women identified as "possible or probable" eating disorder cases than in women not suspected of having an eating disorder. SAWBS scores were also higher in the EDG than in the UCG or a psychiatric control group (PCG), even after controlling for age, socioeconomic status, Body Mass Index (BMT), selfesteem, and depression. Interestingly, a differing relationship between depression and SAWBS emerged as a function of group. Follow-up investigations revealed that SAWBS scores differed significantly between depressed, but not nondepressed women from the three groups. With regard to discriminant validity, SAWBS scores were uncorrelated with BMI and socioeconomic status in UCG and EDG women, and were uncorrelated with the tendency to respond in a socially sanctionned manner in UCG women. Although the tendency to respond in a socially sanctionned manner was related to SAWBS scores in EDG women, SAWBS scores remained higher in EDG than in UCG women after the effect of social desirability was controlled. The proposed developmental precursor variables of SAWBS included endorsement of stereotyped beliefs about thinness, perceived SAWBS in friends, siblings, and parents, and perceived importance placed by parents and romantic partner on the woman's own shape and weight. In both EDG and UCG women, endorsement of societal beliefs about shape and weight, and perceived importance placed on their own shape and weight by mother and father were significantly related to SAWBS scores. In sum, the SAWBS Inventory showed early promise as a reliable and valid measure of shape- and weight-based self-esteem, and may be a useful tool in the assessment of eating disorders. Theoretical and clinical implications with regard to the role of SAWBS in the development and treatment of eating disorders are discussed.

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