Perceived Peer Support and Unhealthy Eating Behaviors in Men and Women
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Authors
Bentzinger, Jaelyn
King, Morgan
Issue Date
2025-12
Volume
10
Issue
Type
Journal Article
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Abstract
This study aimed to answer questions regarding the normalization of eating disorder behaviors through peer and dieting culture. The effect of perceived peer support on participant responses to reading about a displayed unhealthy eating behavior was examined. Participants (n=122) reviewed one of four scripts, containing either a male or female character who displays an unhealthy dieting behavior. The character speaks with their peer named Sam who is either corrective or promotive of the disordered eating behavior displayed, which created the support condition. Participants then answer a connected survey that asks: How likely do you think it is that Sam is a good friend to the character? How likely is it that you would be friends with Sam? How likely is it that the main character has healthy behaviors? In addition, we asked the questions included in the Friend Anti Dieting Scale (FADS) (Thompson et al. 2006) and the Eating Attitudes Test (EAT-26) (Garner et al., 2009) excluding section A of the scale. Results found significant interaction (F (1, 115) = 105.487, MSE = 3.552, p 〈 .001) between the support condition and participant responses to the first two questions regarding the peer character “Sam”. This indicated that participant responses to questions regarding the peer, were highly predictive of the condition participants were in. Implications of this result include: how perceived social interaction affects health outcomes, prevalence of male eating disorder behavior and how it differs from that of females, and accepted terms of communication in society.
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Publisher
Creighton University
License
This material is copyrighted