van Doornik Sanne F W, Glashouwer Klaske A, Ostafin Brian D, de Jong Peter J
Department of Clinical Psychology and Experimental Psychopathology, University of Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands.
Department of Eating Disorders, Accare Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Groningen, Netherlands.
Front Psychol. 2021 Feb 11;12:593393. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.593393. eCollection 2021.
Although previous studies have shown an inverse relation between life meaning and eating disorder symptoms, the correlational nature of this evidence precludes causal inferences. Therefore, this study used an experimental approach to test the causal impact of life meaning on individuals' weight and shape concerns. Female students at risk for developing an eating disorder ( = 128) were randomly assigned to the control or the meaning condition, which involved thinking about and committing to pursue intrinsically valued life goals. A color-naming interference task was used to assess the motivational salience of body-related stimuli, and self-report measures were used to assess participants' overvaluation of weight and shape. The meaning manipulation was effective in activating intrinsically valued life goals. However, it did not result in lower self-reported overvaluation of weight and shape or lower color-naming interference effects of body-related stimuli, compared to the control condition. analyses suggested that baseline meaning in life was related to the impact of the manipulation. This experimental study did not provide evidence for a causal influence of life meaning on the overvaluation of weight and shape in a high-risk group. The current findings suggest that we first need to examine the relationship between life meaning and eating disorder symptoms in more detail, before implementing brief meaning manipulations in clinical practice.
尽管先前的研究表明生活意义与饮食失调症状之间存在负相关关系，但该证据的相关性本质排除了因果推断。因此，本研究采用实验方法来测试生活意义对个体体重和体型关注的因果影响。有饮食失调风险的女学生（ = 128）被随机分配到对照组或意义条件组，后者涉及思考并致力于追求内在重视的生活目标。使用颜色命名干扰任务来评估与身体相关刺激的动机显著性，并使用自我报告测量来评估参与者对体重和体型的过度重视。意义操纵有效地激活了内在重视的生活目标。然而，与对照组相比，它并没有导致自我报告的对体重和体型的过度重视降低，也没有导致与身体相关刺激的颜色命名干扰效应降低。 分析表明，生活的基线意义与操纵的影响有关。这项实验研究没有为生活意义对高风险群体中体重和体型过度重视的因果影响提供证据。目前的研究结果表明，在临床实践中实施简短的意义操纵之前，我们首先需要更详细地研究生活意义与饮食失调症状之间的关系。
