The relationships among social comparisons, body surveillance, and body dissatisfaction in the natural environment

Abstract

We examined the relationships among social comparisons (i.e., body, eating, and exercise), body surveillance, and body dissatisfaction in the natural environment. Participants were 232 college women who completed a daily diary protocol for 2 weeks, responding to online surveys 3 times per day. When the contemporaneous relationships among these variables were examined in a single model, results indicated that comparing one's body, eating, or exercise to others or engaging in body surveillance was associated with elevated body dissatisfaction in the same short-term assessment period. Additionally, individuals with high trait-like engagement in body comparisons or body surveillance experienced higher levels of body dissatisfaction. Trait-like eating and exercise comparison tendencies did not predict unique variance in body dissatisfaction. When examined prospectively in a single model, trait-like body comparison and body surveillance remained predictors of body dissatisfaction, but the only more state-like behavior predictive of body dissatisfaction at the next assessment was eating comparison. Results provide support for the notion that naturalistic body dissatisfaction is predicted by both state- and trait-like characteristics. In particular, social comparisons (i.e., body, eating, and exercise) and body surveillance may function as proximal triggers for contemporaneous body dissatisfaction, with eating comparisons emerging as an especially important predictor of body dissatisfaction over time. Regarding trait-like predictors, general tendencies to engage in body comparisons and body surveillance may be more potent distal predictors of body dissatisfaction than general eating or exercise comparison tendencies.

Keywords: body dissatisfaction; body surveillance; daily diary; social comparison.