Background: The discrepancy between actual and ideal body image is considered an index of body dissatisfaction and a risk factor for eating disorders. While discrepancy has been traditionally tested with figural drawing rating scales, in recent times the use of implicit measures has been explored.
Methods: This study employs the Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure (IRAP) to examine actual-ideal body-size discrepancy in a sample of 130 Spanish college students, as well as its utility to predict symptoms of eating disorders and other body-image relevant measures. Participants completed the Contour Drawing Rating Scale (CDRS). The three smallest and the three largest contour drawings of the CDRS were used as target stimuli in two different IRAP tasks: one in combination with the sample phrases "I am" and "I am not" (that assessed implicit actual body image), another in combination with the phrases "I want to be" and "I don't want to be" (that assessed implicit ideal body image). After completing both IRAP tasks, participants completed explicit measures of body-image psychological inflexibility, body dissatisfaction, and symptoms of eating disorders.
Results: Results showed a small implicit bias towards thinness. Participants were faster in affirming than denying that they are thin and that they desire to be thin. They were also faster in affirming than denying that they are fat and that they want to be fat, but to a smaller extent than with thinness. Specifically, the implicit desire to be (or not be) fat emerged as an independent predictor of eating disorder symptoms, psychological inflexibility, and body dissatisfaction that significantly increased the predictive power of CDRS scores.
Conclusions: These findings underscore the need for further research on specific body image implicit beliefs towards fatness, both in subclinical and clinical populations, in order to examine whether willingness to accept the idea that one can have a larger body size can be a suitable target for prevention and intervention in eating disorders.
Keywords: Body dissatisfaction; Body image; Figural drawings; Gender differences; IRAP; Implicit attitudes; Implicit relational assessment procedure.
Body dissatisfaction can be thought of as the discrepancy between actual and desired body size. This is typically measured with rating scales depicting a series of body silhouettes of increasing size, from extreme thinness to fatness. Respondents mark the points that match their current body size and the one they would ideally like to be (the more distance between both, the more body dissatisfaction). Like all self-reports, these scales are liable to self-presentation biases. Experimental procedures that require respondents to answer under time pressure (implicit measures) tap into more automatic reactions that are less amenable to deliberate manipulation. This study used one such procedure (the IRAP) to examine how rapidly participants identified themselves (or not) with pictures of underweight or overweight, and how rapidly they expressed a desire to be (or not) like such pictures. Participants did not show a clear discrepancy between their actual and their ideal body size with the IRAP. However, automatic reactions indicative of acceptance/rejection of the idea of becoming fatter, predicted the degree of body image distress as measured with different instruments. Unwillingness to accept this idea was associated with more severe symptoms of disordered eating.