Obsession about looks

Women may have eating disorders when dissatisfaction about looks is accompanied by other issues.

A new study conducted by Ohio State University has shown that being unhappy with their bodies is not the only reason that can lead to eating disorders in women. It involves additional factors as well.

Women are more likely to have eating disorders when their body dissatisfaction is accompanied by other issues like a tendency to obsessively examine their bodies and think about how they appear to others.

According to Research News, the results of the study have shown that "body surveillance" was the strongest factor that predicted which women with body dissatisfaction were likely to report symptoms of eating disorders.

"Body surveillance involves actions like continually looking at yourself in the mirror to see how you look.Women who do this tend to ignore their internal feelings and emotions and concentrate on their outward appearance. They think of their bodies as objects." For example, some women may ignore their feelings of hunger because they are more concerned with how eating may affect how they appear to others," Tracy Tylka, author of the study and assistant professor of psychology at Ohio State University's Marion campus,said.

"About 3 to 8 percent of women have some type of eating disorder, but many women ,maybe most women, are dissatisfied with their bodies. This study shows there are factors such as constant body monitoring that strengthen the relationship between body dissatisfaction and eating disorders and may help identify women at risk," she added.

Tylka discovered that another factor that strengthened the link between body dissatisfaction and eating disorders is neuroticism, a personality trait in which people tend to be anxious, nervous, worrying, and insecure.

The third related factor was having a family member or friend who has an eating disorder.

Women who have any of these three factors - coupled with body dissatisfaction - are the ones who may be most at risk for disordered eating, Tylka said.

"Knowing these moderating factors can help health professionals understand which women with body dissatisfaction may have a tendency toward problems with disordered eating," she said.