Examining the moderating role of social norms between body dissatisfaction and disordered eating in college students

Body dissatisfaction is a well-replicated risk factor for disordered eating, yet not all individuals with body dissatisfaction exhibit disordered eating. This study examined the role of perceptions of social norms on the relationship between body dissatisfaction and disordered eating. Perceptions of descriptive and injunctive peer norms, body dissatisfaction, and disordered eating were examined in a non-clinical sample of college men and women using cross-sectional survey methods. For women, perceptions of the injunctive norms of peer thinness and peer acceptability moderated the relationship between body dissatisfaction and disordered eating with an additive effect; perceptions of the descriptive norm peer prevalence of disordered eating behaviors did not. In men, norms did not moderate the relationship between body dissatisfaction and disordered eating. Endorsement of injunctive norms is associated with reported disordered eating in women with high body dissatisfaction. Norm-based interventions may be best suited for women with high body dissatisfaction.

► Norms relate to disordered eating in college women but not college men.
► Injunctive norms moderate body dissatisfaction and disordered eating in women.
► Descriptive norms do not moderate body dissatisfaction and disordered eating.
► Body dissatisfaction and norms do not interact to predict disordered eating in men.
► Norm based interventions are best suited for women high in body dissatisfaction.