Father and Sibling Pressure to be Thin and Adolescents’ Dieting: Appearance Comparison as a Mediator

• In Event: Poster Session 11
  In Poster Session: PS 11 Topic - Health, Growth, Injury

Abstract

Dieting, a type of disordered eating, is highly prevalent among girls during adolescence (Neumark-Sztainer et al., 2012). This high prevalence is alarming due to findings that disordered eating is one of the strongest predictors of the development of a later, potentially deadly, eating disorder (Stice, 2002). Pressures to be thin from family members may lead to disordered eating through direct or indirect mechanisms (Ata et al., 2007). For example, family members’ pressure may encourage the adolescent to compare herself to those who are thin, in turn leading her to believe that she must achieve thinness in order to avoid familial criticism. Such appearance comparisons could lead to dieting as a way to attain and maintain a certain thin appearance. Therefore, we sought to examine the mediating influence of appearance comparison on the relationship between family member’s pressure to be thin and girls’ dieting. In particular, we chose to focus on fathers and siblings because these influences are understudied.

Participants were 119 female adolescents (M=14.8, SD = 1.6). Our sample consisted of mostly white (99.1%) individuals, with an overall mean body mass index (21.5) that fell within normal range. Pressure to be thin from fathers and siblings was measured using an adapted version of the Perceived Sociocultural Pressure Scale (Stice et al.,1996). Appearance comparison was measured using the Physical Appearance Comparison Scale (Thompson, et al.; 1991). Dieting was measured using the Dieting Behaviors Scale (Blodgett Salafia et al., 2007).

Mediation analysis was conducted separately for fathers and siblings, using the PROCESS macro. This program allows for the simultaneous analysis of both direct and indirect effects, and quantifies these effects instead of relying on the researcher to interpret their significance. Direct effects for all variables in both our father and sibling models were positive and significant. Further, indirect effects for both models were significant. Thus, results indicated that appearance comparison functioned as a mediator in both our father (95% CI: .07-.76) and sibling (95% CI: .02-.48) models. Higher levels of father and sibling pressure were significantly associated with more appearance comparisons, which were then associated with more dieting among female adolescents.

Our findings add to the limited literature on father and sibling influences on disordered eating during adolescence. We found that when fathers and siblings pressured female adolescents to be thin, adolescents tended to make more comparisons of their bodies with others and were more likely to engage in dieting. Dieting is a highly predictive factor of the development of an eating disorder. Fathers and siblings may exert pressures to be thin that differ in type and potency from pressures by mothers, and, while mother influence is well studied, father and sibling influences are not. Future research should continue to focus on fathers and siblings and how they may contribute to the development of disordered eating during adolescence. Our findings inform intervention and prevention efforts of the need to include program components specific to fathers and siblings as well as full family sessions with individual components aimed at relieving pressures.

Authors

• Emma Johnson, North Dakota State University
  Presenting Author

• Elizabeth H. Blodgett Salafia, North Dakota State University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Bryanna Bemlott, North Dakota State University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Kerrie Leonard, North Dakota State University
  Non-Presenting Author