PERFECTIONISM AS A MODERATOR OF ASSOCIATIONS BETWEEN BODY DISSATISFACATION AND DISORDERED EATING: AN ECOLOGICAL MOMENTARY ASSESSMENT STUDY

Disordered eating attitudes and behavioral urges are prevalent in community samples and contribute to numerous negative physical and psychological outcomes. Using an ecological momentary assessment, this study examines how body dissatisfaction, perfectionism, and disordered eating relate to one another. Over the course of one week, women (n=49) with disordered eating completed multiple daily ratings of body dissatisfaction and disordered eating attitudes, urges and behaviors. Multilevel model analyses were used to test study hypotheses that; (1) body dissatisfaction prospectively predicts disordered eating attitudes and urges; and (2) perfectionism moderates the associations between body dissatisfaction and subsequent disordered eating attitudes and behaviors, such that individuals higher in perfectionism will report stronger associations between these variables. Results indicate that, in this sample, greater body dissatisfaction does not predict disordered eating attitudes, urges or behaviors. However, the interaction between increased body dissatisfaction and perfectionism predicted subsequent disordered eating attitudes and behavioral urges, but did not predict engagement in eating disorder behaviors. Results have important clinical and treatment implications for including perfectionism in the treatment of eating disorders.Ph.D. in Psychology, July 201