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Looking at Body Image: The Organization of Self‐Knowledge About Physical Appearance and Its Relation to Disordered Eating
Author(s) -
Showers Carolin J.,
Larson Birgit E.
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
journal of personality
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.082
H-Index - 144
eISSN - 1467-6494
pISSN - 0022-3506
DOI - 10.1111/1467-6494.00069
Subject(s) - psychology , disordered eating , human physical appearance , compartmentalization (fire protection) , coping (psychology) , self concept , developmental psychology , personality , social psychology , relation (database) , eating disorders , clinical psychology , biochemistry , chemistry , enzyme , database , computer science
This study examined the organization of self‐knowledge, with special attention to beliefs about physical appearance, in three groups of college‐aged women: high body dissatisfaction with symptoms of disordered eating; high body dissatisfaction with no symptoms of disorder; and low body dissatisfaction. In the nondisordered, dissatisfied group, negative beliefs about physical appearance were organized in the self‐structure in a way that isolated those beliefs and might minimize their impact and importance. This group also displayed adaptive types of self‐concept organization (evaluative integration for those with important negative self‐beliefs and compartmentalization for those with important positive beliefs) and effective coping strategies. Features of self‐structure that characterize the nondisordered, dissatisfied group may provide a useful model for helping individuals with disordered eating cope with their negative physical appearance beliefs.