Social Identity and Eating Disorders in Young Women: The Understated Role of the Group

Research has established that there is high prevalence of subclinical eating disorders among young women. It has been suggested that social identity and norms are important factor in improving eating behaviour. However, there are significant gaps in this area of research which need to be addressed, such as the use of experimental manipulation rather than an intervention to elicit change. The present study addressed these gaps in the literature. Additionally, the present study conducted a well established prevention program, The Body Project, in Australia for the first time. This study examined differences in three measures of disordered eating; body satisfaction, thin-ideal internalisation, and dieting intentions, from the beginning to end of the project. Additionally, this study examined whether social identification and norms could predict an improvement in disordered eating. One hundred and eleven female staff and students from the University of Queensland (UQ) completed this study. Results showed that there was an improvement in body satisfaction, thin-ideal internalisation, and dieting intentions from the beginning to end of the program. Additionally, group norms predicted an improvement in all three outcomes. However, the interaction between social identification and norms did not contribute to any of the three outcomes as predicted. These findings offer new research given that The Body Project has not been implemented in Australia before. Additionally, these findings address gaps in the literature on social identification, norms, and eating behaviour. Collectively, the obtained results suggest that it is important for eating disorder prevention programs to target group norms. However, the role of social identification requires future research