Story et al. (1995) reported the results from a sample of 36,320 American students and
suggested that higher social class was related to greater weight satisfaction and lower
rates of pathological weight control behaviours such as vomiting. Similar results were
reported by Eisler and Szmukler (1985), who examined abnormal eating attitudes. Fur-
thermore, additional studies report that social class is unrelated to factors such as body
dissatisfaction, the desire for thinness, the desire for weight loss and symptoms indicative
of eating disorders (Cole and Edelmann 1988; Whitaker et al. 1989). Therefore,
although social class is believed to be a cause of body dissatisfaction, the results remain
unclear.The family
Research has also focused on the impact of the family on predicting body dissatis-
faction. In particular, it has highlighted a role for the mother and suggested that
mothers who are dissatisfied with their own bodies communicate this to their
daughters which results in the daughters’ own body dissatisfaction. For example, Hall
and Brown (1982) reported that mothers of girls with anorexia show greater body
dissatisfaction than mothers of non-disordered girls. Likewise, Steiger et al. (1994)
found a direct correspondence between mothers’ and daughters’ levels of weight con-
cern, and Hill et al. (1990) reported a link between mothers’ and daughters’ degree
of dietary restraint. However, research examining concordance between mothers
and daughters has not always produced consistent results. For example, Attie and
Brooks-Gunn (1989) reported that mothers’ levels of compulsive eating and body image
could not predict these factors in their daughters. Likewise, Ogden and Elder (1998)
reported discordance between mothers’ and daughters’ weight concern in both Asian
and white families.
Therefore, research exploring the role of social factors has highlighted a role for the
media, ethnicity, social class and the mother’s own body dissatisfaction. However,
there are problems with the literature. First, much of the evidence is contradictory and
therefore straightforward conclusions are problematic. Secondly, even if there was a
relationship between social factors and body dissatisfaction, simply looking for group
differences (i.e. white versus Asian, lower class versus higher class, mother versus
daughter) does not explain how body dissatisfaction may come about. Therefore research
has also looked for psychological explanations.PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS
The research suggests that body dissatisfaction may be related to class, ethnicity and the
family environment but that this relationship is not a consistent one. Perhaps, simply
looking for group differences hides the effect of other psychological causes. From
this perspective, ethnicity may relate to body dissatisfaction, but only when ethnicity is
also accompanied by a particular set of beliefs. Similarly, it may not be class per se
that is important but whether class reflects the way an individual thinks. Further, a
mother’s body dissatisfaction may only be important if it occurs within a particular kind150 HEALTH PSYCHOLOGY