Elsevier

Body Image

Volume 5, Issue 2, June 2008, Pages 133-140
Body Image

Habitual negative body image thinking as psychological risk factor in adolescents

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2007.11.001Get rights and content

Abstract

Negative body image thinking can be broken down into cognitive content (body dissatisfaction thoughts) and the way such thoughts occur. The present study focused on negative body image thinking as mental habit, i.e., the degree to which such thinking occurs frequently and automatically [Verplanken, Friborg, Wang, Trafimow, & Woolf, 2007]. In a sample of 250 adolescents (age 12–15) it was found that negative body image thinking habit uniquely accounted for variance in self-esteem and eating disturbance propensity over and above body image dissatisfaction. Considering negative body image thinking as a mental habit contributes to a deeper understanding of body dissatisfaction in adolescents, and may have implications for interventions to deal with such attitudes and their potentially harmful consequences.

Introduction

Physical appearance is an important aspect of one's self-image. Body ideals such as the thin woman are shaped from an early age on (e.g., Dittmar, Halliwell, & Ive, 2006), and are well established in young adolescents (Smolak, 2004). In line with this “appearance culture”, body image dissatisfaction has become an increasing concern, particularly among adolescents and young adults (e.g., Thompson & Smolak, 2001). Body image dissatisfaction is associated with low self-esteem (e.g., Tiggemann, 2005) and is a key factor in eating disturbances (e.g., Johnson & Wardle, 2005; Polivy & Herman, 2002).

Body image is a multidimensional construct (e.g., Cash, 2002, Thompson and van den Berg, 2002). It has attitudinal, perceptual, and behavioral aspects. The attitudinal dimension comprises evaluative responses, such as body dissatisfaction and investment (e.g., Cash, 2002). Perceptual aspects concern the ways individuals perceive their body, such as distorted perceptions of body size (e.g., Cash & Deagle, 1997). Behavioral aspects involve anything individuals do that relates to their appearance, for example the use of food supplements as a way to lose weight (e.g., McCabe & Ricciardelli, 2006). In this article we focus on negative thinking about one's body as a process aspect of body image. The balance of positive and negative thoughts about one's appearance forms the foundation of body image attitudes (e.g., Fishbein & Ajzen, 1975). Body dissatisfaction thus rests on the predominance of dissatisfied body image thoughts. The content of such thoughts may vary widely, for instance negative evaluations of specific body features, discrepancy from body shape ideals, or the belief that others dislike your appearance. However, having negative body-related thoughts per se needs not be problematic or indicate chronic body dissatisfaction. The latter can only be expected under certain conditions. We suggest that one such condition is the frequency and automaticity of dissatisfied thinking. We refer to this quality of thinking as a mental habit.

Psychologists have always conceptualized habit as frequency of past behavior. However, Verplanken, 2006, Verplanken and Orbell, 2003 argued that while repetition is necessary for habits to develop, it is the automaticity of repeated behavior that makes it a habit. Verplanken, Friborg, Wang, Trafimow, and Woolf (2007) applied this habit concept to mental events, and investigated negative self-thinking as mental habit. These authors distinguished the content of negative self-thinking (e.g., negative self-beliefs) from how such thinking occurs, i.e., the degree to which negative self-thinking occurs frequently and automatically. The mental habit component of negative self-thinking is measured by a meta-cognitive instrument, the Habit Index of Negative Thinking (HINT). The development of this instrument was informed by Bargh's (1994) analysis of automaticity as encompassing four possible modalities, i.e., the lack of awareness and conscious intent, mental efficiency, and the difficulty to control. These modalities of automaticity are all represented in the HINT, in addition to the aspect of the frequent occurrence of negative thoughts. In a series of studies, it was demonstrated that the HINT systematically accounted for variance in self-esteem and symptoms of anxiety and depression over and above the cognitive content of negative self-thinking (Verplanken et al., 2007).

In the present study, we applied the mental habit paradigm to negative body image thinking. We thus distinguished the degree to which negative body-related thoughts occur frequently and automatically. It is important to note that while individuals may have all kinds of body-related thoughts, the mental habit construct was confined to body image dissatisfaction thoughts. The study tested the hypotheses that the degree to which negative body image thinking occurs habitually is a factor that contributes significantly and independently to low self-esteem (H1) and eating disturbance propensity (H2) over and above body dissatisfaction, which has traditionally been found related to these variables (e.g., Polivy & Herman, 2002; Tiggemann, 2005). These hypotheses were investigated among adolescents in the age range of 12–15 years. This age group experiences a phase of significant physical and psychological changes, which are associated with increased concerns about body image (e.g., Attie & Brooks-Gunn, 1989). Most research on body images among adolescents to date has concentrated on content of body image thinking, with a strong focus on body shape ideals and weight concerns (e.g., Storvoll, Strandbu, & Wichstrøm, 2005). The present study aims to contribute by investigating the significance of negative body image thinking habit as a process aspect of dissatisfied body image thinking.

Section snippets

Participants and procedure

Two hundred and eighty-five pupils in grades eight and nine at two secondary schools in Norway were invited to participate in the study. After obtaining consent from the schools and teachers, a research assistant approached the pupils in class. Two hundred and fifty pupils agreed to participate (response rate = 88%). Informed consent was obtained from each participant and from his or her parents. The study received ethics approval from the National Committee for Research Ethics in Norway.

Descriptive results, correlations, and gender differences

In Table 1 correlations between the study variables are presented separately for boys and girls. Negative body image thinking habit was moderately strongly correlated with the study variables for both sexes. The correlations with the body image measures thus provide evidence of convergent validity of the habit construct.

T-tests were conducted on the study variables in order to investigate gender differences. As can be seen in Table 2, there were statistically significant gender differences on

Discussion

This article focuses on body dissatisfaction, and in particular on dissatisfied body image thinking. We propose that the frequency and automaticity of negative body image thinking posits an independent factor in explaining potentially harmful consequences of body dissatisfaction in the form of feelings of low self-worth and eating disturbance propensity. We refer to this quality of thinking as a mental habit (Verplanken et al., 2007). As was anticipated, negative body image thinking habit

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