Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Institute for Psychology, University of Freiburg, 79106 Freiburg, Germany.
Psychosom Med. 2009 Oct;71(8):907-12. doi: 10.1097/PSY.0b013e3181b4434d. Epub 2009 Aug 6.
To determine the role of social comparison for body dissatisfaction in bulimia nervosa (BN). Previous research suggested that exposure to media content idealizing thin body shape decreases body satisfaction, particularly in women with eating disorder symptoms. This might be due to the negative outcome of social comparisons with media models, and women with eating disorders might be particularly susceptible because they engage in upward social comparison more frequently than women without these symptoms. However, no study has yet explored both upward (i.e., toward more attractive others) and downward (i.e., toward less attractive others) social comparisons and their impact on body dissatisfaction in a clinical eating disorder and healthy controls.
We presented patients with BN (n = 20) and healthy controls (HC) (n = 22) with slides comprising a digitized image of their own body alongside comparison bodies with higher and lower body mass indices (BMIs) while measuring their eye movements.
As hypothesized, patients with BN fixated longer on comparison bodies with lower BMIs than controls, with the reverse pattern for high BMI bodies. This gaze pattern suggests that upward comparisons were more prevalent in the BN group. Furthermore, upward comparisons were related to a drop in body satisfaction in the BN group.
Disadvantageous social comparison strategies might be related to body dissatisfaction and therefore to the maintenance of BN.
确定社会比较在神经性贪食症（BN）中对身体不满的作用。先前的研究表明，接触理想化瘦体型的媒体内容会降低身体满意度，尤其是在有饮食障碍症状的女性中。这可能是由于与媒体模特进行负面的社会比较的结果，而有饮食障碍的女性可能更容易受到影响，因为她们比没有这些症状的女性更频繁地进行向上的社会比较。然而，目前还没有研究同时探讨向上（即，与更有吸引力的他人相比）和向下（即，与吸引力较低的他人相比）的社会比较及其对临床饮食障碍和健康对照组中身体不满的影响。
我们向 BN 患者（n = 20）和健康对照组（HC）（n = 22）展示了幻灯片，其中包含他们自己身体的数字化图像以及身体质量指数（BMI）较高和较低的比较身体，同时测量他们的眼球运动。
正如假设的那样，BN 患者比对照组更久地注视 BMI 较低的比较身体，而 BMI 较高的身体则呈现相反的模式。这种注视模式表明，向上的比较在 BN 组中更为普遍。此外，向上的比较与 BN 组的身体满意度下降有关。
不利的社会比较策略可能与身体不满有关，从而与 BN 的维持有关。
