Body checking in the eating disorders: Associations between cognitions and behaviors

• Published in: The International journal of eating disorders Vol. 39; no. 8; pp. 708 - 715
• Main Authors: Mountford, V, Haase, A, Waller, G
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hoboken Wiley Subscription Services, Inc., A Wiley Company 01-12-2006; Wiley; Wiley Subscription Services, Inc
• Subjects: abnormal behavior; Adult and adolescent clinical studies; Behavior; Biological and medical sciences; body checking; body composition; Body Image; Body Mass Index; body weight; Bulimia Nervosa - diagnosis; Bulimia Nervosa - epidemiology; Bulimia Nervosa - psychology; Cognition; Cognition & reasoning; cognitions; Correlation analysis; Eating behavior disorders; Eating disorders; Factor Analysis, Statistical; Human body; Humans; Incidence; Judgment; Medical sciences; Pathology; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychometrics; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Self Concept; Severity of Illness Index; Social Desirability; Surveys and Questionnaires; Women; Cognitive disorder; cognitions; Cognition; Behavior; eating disorders; Eating disorder; body checking; Body
• ISSN: 0276-3478; 1098-108X
• DOI: 10.1002/eat.20279

Objective: Body checking behaviors appear to be a manifestation of the cognitive distortions that are central to the maintenance of the eating disorders. However, there is little understanding of the cognitions that drive these behaviors. This study validates a novel measure of such cognitions (Body Checking Cognitions Scale [BCCS]) and examines the association between body checking cognitions, body checking behaviors, and general eating pathology. Method: Eighty-four eating-disordered women and 205 non-eating-disordered women each completed measures of body checking behaviors, body checking cognitions and eating pathology. A further 130 nonclinical women completed the measures to provide an independent cross-validation sample for the BCCS. Results: The BCCS was reliable and valid, and cross-validation with an independent sample confirmed the four-factor structure. Eating-disordered women were significantly more likely to experience body checking cognitions than healthy women. Those cognitions were associated with a significant proportion of variance in eating pathology, over and above the variance explained by checking behaviors. Conclusion: This study provides evidence for a range of beliefs underlying body checking behavior in eating-disordered women, suggesting that interventions addressing those beliefs might be pertinent in some cases.