Perfectionism and thoughts about eating, weight and shape

Perfectionism is a personality trait, characterised by goal-orientated behaviour and the pursuit of standards which an individual feels unable to relinquish, and has been linked to eating disorders (ED) such as anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. Recent cognitive theories have suggested that, in some individuals with ED, perfectionism and body weight and shape concerns together represent a dysfunctional system for self-evaluation. Despite the theoretical relationship between perfectionism and eating concerns, the relationship in the empirical literature remains unclear. Greater clarity in the perfectionism construct and further studies of cognitive content and specificity may help clarify the relationship between perfectionism and eating concerns. In view of the proposed relationship between perfectionism and eating concerns, the empirical paper examined the content of cognitions, and the influence of perfectionist beliefs on eating concerns. Weight and shape related thoughts were compared in participants with high (n = 26) and low eating concerns (n = 26), in a weight and shape task and a control task. Regression analysis then examined the contribution of perfectionism to eating, weight and shape thoughts (n = 95). High eating concerned participants reported significantly more self referent and negative eating, weight and shape thoughts than the low eating concerned group and indicated a greater overall belief in weight and shape thoughts. However, there were more neutral thoughts reported by low and high eating concerned participants overall. State rather than trait perfectionism correlated significantly with measures of eating concerns. Perfectionism predicted a small proportion of the variance in eating, weight and shape thoughts, in addition to measures of eating concerns. Results are discussed in relation to current cognitive theories, clarity of the perfectionism construct, and methodological considerations within the current theoretical and empirical literature. Limitations of the study, and research and clinical implications are considered.