Withnell Samantha J, Bodell Lindsay P
Department of Psychology, University of Western Ontario, Canada.
Department of Psychology, University of Western Ontario, Canada.
Eat Behav. 2025 Jan;56:101942. doi: 10.1016/j.eatbeh.2025.101942. Epub 2025 Jan 4.
Weight suppression refers to the difference between one's current and highest previous weight in adulthood and has been associated with development of eating pathology. Previous research has been agnostic as to whether reported weight suppression reflects deliberate weight control behavior, and few studies have assessed whether weight loss that occurs unintentionally (e.g., due to illness) is longitudinally associated with eating pathology.
Undergraduates at a Canadian university (N = 661; 81.4 % female) completed three online surveys over six months. Longitudinal multilevel models examined the interaction of within-person fluctuations in weight suppression and between-person differences in weight loss intentions on binge eating, dietary restriction, and body dissatisfaction.
Of participants who reported weight suppression at baseline, 47.6 % indicated that their weight loss was unintentional. Compared to participants endorsing unintentional weight suppression, participants endorsing intentional weight suppression showed greater body dissatisfaction and binge eating across the assessment period (β = 3.64, p ≤ .001 and β = 2.32, p ≤ .001). Significant within-person effects were found only for restriction, indicating that when individuals reported greater weight suppression, they also reported more restrictive eating (β = 0.89, p = .004). Contrary to hypotheses, associations between within-person fluctuations in weight suppression and disordered eating outcomes did not differ by weight loss intentions.
Findings suggest that whether weight suppression is intentional may influence mean levels of disordered eating but may have limited influence on within-person fluctuations in weight suppression and disordered eating severity in a non-clinical sample.
体重抑制是指个体当前体重与成年期之前最高体重之间的差异，且与饮食病理学的发展有关。以往的研究并未明确报告的体重抑制是否反映了刻意的体重控制行为，而且很少有研究评估非故意发生的体重减轻（例如由于疾病）是否与饮食病理学存在纵向关联。
加拿大一所大学的本科生（N = 661；81.4%为女性）在六个月内完成了三项在线调查。纵向多层次模型检验了体重抑制的个体内波动与减肥意图的个体间差异对暴饮暴食、饮食限制和身体不满的交互作用。
在基线时报告有体重抑制的参与者中，47.6%表示他们的体重减轻是无意的。与认可无意体重抑制的参与者相比，认可有意体重抑制的参与者在整个评估期间表现出更大的身体不满和暴饮暴食（β = 3.64，p≤.001；β = 2.32，p≤.001）。仅在饮食限制方面发现了显著的个体内效应，表明当个体报告有更大的体重抑制时，他们也报告了更严格的饮食（β = 0.89，p =.004）。与假设相反，体重抑制的个体内波动与饮食失调结果之间的关联并未因减肥意图而有所不同。
研究结果表明，体重抑制是否是有意的可能会影响饮食失调的平均水平，但对非临床样本中体重抑制的个体内波动和饮食失调严重程度的影响可能有限。
