Body image, eating disturbance and estrogen levels across the menstrual cycle

The principal interest of the current study was to examine estrogen levels across the menstrual cycle related to body image and eating disturbance. Participants were undergraduate female students at a medium size Midwestern university. There were two phases of this study-a between-subjects aspect (N = 119) followed by a within-subjects aspect (N = 41 ). Multivariate analyses of covariance (MANCO VA) were used to analyze the first phase data. Results showed that when eating disorders were viewed as a whole. eating patterns were stable across the menstrual cycle; but if looked at separately. symptoms of anorexia were worse when estrogen levels were high. In the follow-up phase of this study. results from repeated measures analyses of covariance (ANCOVA) suggest that women experience greater body dissatisfaction when estrogen is low. Discussion of the findings and their clinical implications are addressed