Body dissatisfaction and socio-cultural factors in women with and without BED: Their relation with eating psychopathology

The goal of the present study was to assess the role of body dissatisfaction and socio-cultural factors on eating psychopathology in women with Binge Eating Disorder (BED) and women without BED. Seventy obese women consecutively evaluated participated: 35 with BED and 35 without BED who attended for the first time in a weight loss program. All participants completed a battery of questionnaires, including: Body Shape Questionnaire, Questionnaire of Influences on the Aesthetic Body Shape Model, Questionnaire on Eating and Weight Patterns, Three Factor Eating Questionnaire, and they were interviewed with the Interview for the Diagnosis of Eating Disorder-IV. The Body Mass Index, Waist-to-Hip Ratio and Body Fat were calculated. The results showed that 21% of obese women who participated in a weight reduction program met BED criteria. The scores of body dissatisfaction, influences of socio-cultural factors and eating psychopathology were higher in women with BED compared with women without BED. In the same way, significantly stronger correlations were found among influences of socio-cultural factors, specifically, influence of advertisement, social relations and eating psychopathology in women with BED than women without BED. It is concluded that the high body dissatisfaction as well as stronger associations among influence of socio-cultural factors and eating psychopathology could play an important role in women with BED.