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Menstrual cycle, body image, and eating disturbance
Author(s) -
Altabe Madeline,
Thompson J. Kevin
Publication year - 1990
Publication title -
international journal of eating disorders
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.785
H-Index - 138
eISSN - 1098-108X
pISSN - 0276-3478
DOI - 10.1002/1098-108x(199007)9:4<395::aid-eat2260090405>3.0.co;2-e
Subject(s) - distress , menstrual cycle , pill , psychology , disturbance (geology) , eating disorders , etiology , menstruation , oral contraceptive pill , medicine , population , psychiatry , clinical psychology , family planning , research methodology , paleontology , hormone , biology , environmental health , pharmacology
Sixty females (ages 17–25) were blocked into four groups on the basis of contraceptive use (pill, non‐pill) and level of menstrual distress (high, low). All subjects were tested for levels of body image and eating disturbance during three phases of the menstrual cycle: menstrual, intermenstrual, premenstrual. High menstrual distress subjects had greater body image and eating disturbance than low distress subjects. There was marginal evidence that body image disturbance for the high menstrual distress subjects was greater perimenstrually (premenstrual plus menstrual). There was also suggestive evidence that subjects overestimated the size of the waist greater perimenstrually. The findings are discussed with regard to etiological mechanisms, methodological issues, and treatment implications.