EXPLANATIONS OF BODY-IMAGE DISTURBANCE - A TEST OF MATURATIONAL STATUS, NEGATIVE VERBAL COMMENTARY, SOCIAL-COMPARISON, AND SOCIOCULTURAL HYPOTHESES

Objective: A number of hypotheses have been offered to explain the dev elopment and/or maintenance of body image disturbance. In this study, four factors which have been hypothesized to lead to body image proble ms were tested: maturational status (early physical development), nega tive verbal commentary (a history of being teased regarding physical a ppearance), behavioral social comparison, and awareness/internalizatio n of sociocultural pressures. Methods: One hundred sixty-two college f emales completed measures designed to index these four influences. Pre dictors were regressed onto multiple measures of body image and two in dices of eating disturbance. Results: Even with self-esteem and level of obesity removed as influences, social comparison and societal facto rs were significant predictors of body dissatisfaction and eating dist urbance. Negative verbal commentary also explained a small part of the variance, however, maturational status did not contribute uniquely in any analysis. Discussion: The findings offer further support for emer ging theories of body image and eating disturbance. (C) 1996 by John W iley & Sons, Inc.