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Eating pattern and self-esteem in overweight women
S N Johansen1, H Jacobsen, J H Rosenvinge
1University of Tromsø, Department of Psychology, Asgårdveien 9, N-9037 Tromsø, Norway.
Eating and Weight Disorders : EWD
|March 10, 2001
Summary
Improving self-liking, not self-competence, correlated with better eating patterns in overweight women undergoing weight reduction. Including self-liking strategies may enhance weight loss program effectiveness.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Clinical Nutrition
- Health Psychology
Background:
- Self-esteem's impact on eating patterns is complex.
- Differentiating self-esteem into 'self-liking' and 'self-competence' offers deeper insight.
- Previous research indicates a link between low self-esteem and disordered eating.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the relationship between specific self-esteem components and eating patterns.
- To assess the effectiveness of a weight reduction program on self-esteem and eating behaviors.
- To determine if self-liking or self-competence is more strongly associated with eating pattern improvement.
Main Methods:
- An 8-week weight reduction program was conducted with 38 overweight women (ages 21-68).
- The Self-Liking and Competence Scale (SLCS) measured self-esteem domains.
- The Eating Disorder Scale (EDS-5) assessed eating patterns.
Main Results:
- Improvements in eating patterns were significantly associated with increased self-liking.
- No significant association was found between eating pattern improvement and self-competence.
- Weight reduction was statistically significant, but participants remained overweight on average.
- The findings align with studies on normal-weight individuals, highlighting the self-liking-eating pattern link.
Conclusions:
- Disturbed eating patterns are specifically related to self-liking, not self-competence.
- Weight reduction programs could be more effective if they incorporate strategies to improve eating patterns and self-liking.
- Further controlled studies are needed to validate the hypothesis that targeting self-liking enhances weight loss outcomes.