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• To our knowledge, this is the first study examining appearance contingent self-worth and appearance-related social comparison as mediators of the relationship between self-concept clarity and both body dissatisfaction and disordered eating.
• Aim 1 provided descriptive statistics through correlations among core constructs—as predicted, all correlations were statistically significant and demonstrated the expected relationships.
• Aim 2 focused on testing 4 novel mediation models of self-concept clarity’s effect on body dissatisfaction and disordered eating. As predicted, both mediators at least partially mediated the relationship between self-concept clarity and body dissatisfaction/disordered eating.
• Overall, appearance-related social comparison appears to be the stronger of the 2 mediators. Most strikingly, results indicate that appearance-related social comparison fully mediated the relationship between self-concept clarity and disordered eating, suggesting that low self-concept clarity predicts greater disordered eating by increasing appearance-related social comparison.
• Findings suggest that targeting appearance contingent self-worth and appearance-related social comparison—pathways between low self-concept clarity and eating disorder symptoms—in prevention and treatment efforts may mitigate risk for the development, increase, or relapse of disordered eating.
• More research is necessary to determine if the effects are generalizable to a broader population and determine if interventions explicitly designed to target key variables would effectively reduce body dissatisfaction and disordered eating in clinical populations.
• Future research should examine relationship contingent self-worth and other areas of social comparison.
• Between prior research and the current study, 4 mediators of the examined relationship have been identified—future work should use complex models to jointly examine these mediators and decipher the most robust pathways.

Examining Mediators of the Relation Between Self-Concept

Clarity and Body Dissatisfaction and Disordered Eating

Senior Honors Thesis – Peyton Jayne Kelly

Aim 1 Results

1. Examine correlations between key variables (Time 1 data)

• Predictors: SCC, ACSW, & ARSC
• Outcomes: BD & DE
• Hypotheses:
• SCC will be significantly negatively correlated with BD & ED
• ACSW will be significantly positively correlated with BD & DE
• ARSC will be significantly positively correlated with BD & DE

2. Examine 4 mediation models (Time 1 & Time 2 data)

• Predictor: SCC (Time 1)
• Mediators: ACSW or ARSC (Time 1)
• Outcomes: BD or DE (Time 2)
• Hypotheses:
• Low SCC will predict greater BD (model 1) & DE (model 2) by increasing ACSW
• Low SCC will predict greater BD (model 3) & DE (model 4) by increasing ARSC

Participant Demographics

Anna Bardone-Cone, PhD, FAED

Patrick Harrison, PhD

Alexandra (Ale) Miller, MA

Note. * p < .05, *** p < .001

Key Variables

self-concept is clearly/confidently defined, internally consistent, & stable over time

less body dissatisfaction & disordered eating

Aim 2 Results

Introduction

Discussion

self-worth is highly dependent on appearance/attractiveness

more body dissatisfaction & disordered eating

SCC was negatively correlated with BD (-.47***) & DE (-.37***):

ACSW was positively correlated with BD (.49***) & DE (.47***):

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ARSC was positively correlated with BD (.71***) & DE (.60***):

Self-concept clarity (SCC): extent that one’s self-concept is clearly & confidently defined, internally consistent, & stable over time (SCSS; Campbell et al., 1996)

• Body dissatisfaction and disordered eating are critical issues that negatively impact mental health in our society.
• Body dissatisfaction has consistently proven to be a robust risk factor for and determinant of the development and maintenance of eating disorders.
• While existing eating disorder treatments can be effective, high relapse rates indicate the need to pursue new avenues.
• Preliminary research demonstrates that self-concept clarity, appearance contingent self-worth, and appearance-related social comparison are correlated with body dissatisfaction and disordered eating.
• This study seeks to examine how constructs related to evaluations of the self are linked to eating pathology.

Appearance-related social comparison (ARSC): (Body Comparison Orientation subscale of the BEECOM; Fitzsimmons-Craft et al., 2012)

Appearance contingent self-worth (ACSW): the degree to which one believes their self-worth is dependent upon their appearance/attractiveness (appearance subscale of Contingencies of Self-Worth Scale; Crocker et al., 2003)

Body dissatisfaction (BD): negative self-perceptions and attitudes about one’s own body (EDE-Q Weight Concern & Shape Concern combined subscales; Fairburn & Beglin, 2008)

Disordered eating (DE): encompassing a range of eating pathology including behaviors like dietary restriction & binge eating, & attitudes like preoccupation with food or being thinner (EAT-26; Garner et al., 1982)

Email: pjkelly123@gmail.com

Lab Website: https://bardonecone.web.unc.edu/

a lot of comparisons made between appearance of self and others

more body dissatisfaction & disordered eating

Age = 18.71 years

BMI = 22.39 kg/m²

SES (highest parental education)

= 17.01 years

Race: White (73.2%); Black (9.1%); Hispanic/Latinx (8.0%); Asian (5.0%); Pacific Islander (0.2%), other (0.2%); multiple (4.3%)

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Aims

Acknowledgments

Retention

(Bardone-Cone et al., 2020; Campbell et al., 1996; Crocker et al., 2003; Fairburn & Beglin, 2008; Fitzsimmons-Craft et al., 2012; Garner et al., 1982; National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders, 2021; Vartanian et al., 2016)

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References

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