Eating Behaviors and Families
      In an attempt to better understand the environment in which one may develop an eating disorder, the families of patients have been examined.  One such examination was performed by Calam, Waller, Slade, and Newton (1990) who assessed the care and protection in families as perceived by patients with eating disorders.  They operationally defined care as the self-reported warmth and empathy within the family and protection as perceived overprotection and control of parents over the patients within the study.  The researchers suggested overprotection was particularly important to examine because if the parents were excessively involved in their children’s lives, the children may have failed to develop autonomy and lack control over their own actions.  After comparing scores on the Parental Bonding Instrument administered to both eating disordered and non-eating disordered women, the hypothesis proposed by Calam and her colleagues was supported.  They found that higher scores of overprotection and lower scores of care on the instrument were associated with disordered eating habits of the participants. 
      In a similar study by Pike and Rodin (1991), the specific relationship of mothers and daughters with disordered eating habits was examined.  The researchers reported daughters may actually learn and then model disordered eating habits of their mothers.  Seventy-seven mothers and daughters were given the Family Adaptability and Cohesion Evaluation Scale III and the Eating Disorder Inventory.  The means of the scores from these measures were then compared between groups which had daughters diagnosed with an eating disorder and daughters which had no such diagnosis.  These findings were supported by the report that mothers of eating disordered daughters in the study actually had a longer dieting history and exhibited more disordered eating than mothers of non-eating disordered daughters.  The mothers of eating disordered daughters were also much more critical of their daughter’s weight and overall appearance than were other mothers.  Therefore, the relationship between mother and daughter may actually influence the eating habits and body satisfaction of the daughter.
Eating Behaviors and Friends 
      An interesting study was conducted by Crandall (1988) about the development of binge eating habits within the controlled population of a sorority.  He based the study on the idea that friends develop similar interests as they spend more time together and grow closer. Social groups function to shape behavior and thinking.  Crandall based the idea on Festinger’s classic theory that groups must exert pressure on their members to ensure cohesion because groups do not form with ready-made cohesion.  Therefore, Crandall suggested that as social pressure increases, group members will become more alike and less individualistic.  Crandall found that the sorority members were actually coerced by the group’s standards to conform, meaning to participate in disordered eating habits.  The standards were set by the leaders, or most popular members, of the group.  The coercion was based on the giving or taking of popularity within the group.  Therefore, Crandall was able to demonstrate how a small group of girls may learn an activity from other member’s of her group and then adopt the activity herself.
      It appears adolescent women are particularly susceptible to the influence of their friends.  An investigation into friendship cliques of adolescent females found very intriguing information about the influence of peers on attitudes (Paxton, Schutz, Wertheim, & Muir, 1999).  These researchers found correlations between a number of different activities performed by girls and the prevalence of more concern with body image and more weight-loss behaviors.  For example, the researcher correlated more talk about dieting, more comparing of bodies, and a higher perception of dieting behaviors in friends to more dieting by individuals within the group and less body satisfaction.  The adolescents most influenced were found to value their friends’ opinions more often and to be teased more often by their friends about their bodies.  Therefore, the interaction between information about dieting and valuing friendship may shape improper eating habits in young women.
      The idea of a thin figure representing an attractive and successful person is expressed in the friendships between girls as well as women.  For example, it has been reported that women with an ectomorphic body shape receive more positive peer evaluations, better quality of relationships, and more social acceptance (Lieberman, Gauvin, Bukowski, & White, 2001).  The function begins at an early age because children often tease their obese peers.  This teasing is actually an indirect reinforcement of the ectomorphic ideal.  The amount of teasing that occurs regarding weight in our society demonstrates the fact that body size is one of the few personal qualities that is still an acceptable basis for prejudice (Hoyt & Kogan, 2001).  In our culture, if a woman is not extremely thin, she is reminded daily through media and by the people she encounters in her life (Desmond, Price, Gray, & O’Connell, 1986).  Therefore, acceptance should be a valued quality in friendships and this value should be emphasized over body shape to young girls.

Eating Behaviors and Romantic Relationships
     Another aspect of relationships which has been examined in the past is the quality of a romantic relationship of eating disordered patients.  This has been studied by a number of researchers (Grisset & Norvell, 1992; Paxton, 1996; Lieberman et al, 2001).  The literature supports the idea that romantic relationships, in addition to family and friend relations, are less satisfying for people suffering from an eating disorder or who hold a negative body image about themselves.  It has been found that women with eating disorders do not report close and comfortable relationships with their significant others compared to the general population (Evans & Wertheim, 1998).  As one would predict, their self-reported sexual functioning and satisfaction were also correlated with body dissatisfaction.  An even more disturbing finding was published by Paxton (1996) who claimed that the men have begun to accept the ideals set forth by this culture since more than half of the men surveyed reported that they associated thinness with attractiveness and success.  In the end, a women’s negative body image coupled with high expectations from her significant other to be thinner may be correlated to more disordered eating habits and a less healthy romantic relationship.

Eating Behaviors and Attachment
     Research conducted by Armstrong and Roth (1989) claims that eating disordered patients remember more sensitivity to maternal separation in their early lives than the general public.  Sugarman, Quinlan, & Devenis (1981), as noted by Armstrong & Roth (1989) found that this oversensitivity to separation and failure to achieve independence as a child led to disordered eating habits in adults.  These improper eating habits may be a result of the lack of autonomy the person forms in the developmental stages of life.  Another explanation is improper eating habits may serve as a way of keeping the mother figure closer to the person, as supported by Bowlby’s Attachment Theory (1969/1982) as referenced by Armstrong and Roth (1989). 
     These researchers applied Bowlby’s attachment theory to analyzing eating disordered patients.  The researchers found the importance of attachment and separation is demonstrated by their connection to incidents such as leaving home or breaking-up with a significant other and the development of recurrence of disordered eating habits.  In turn, the person may continue to behave improperly with respect to eating patterns as a way of controlling something and as a way of feeling more secure.  Therefore, the need for interpersonal relationships diminishes greatly, since they are able to soothe themselves through their eating patterns, without social support.  These claims were supported by higher scores of frequency and intensity of anxious attachment and by eating disordered patients on the Separation Anxiety Test.  Less effective coping strategies were also found in the patients when compared to the general population.
     Koon (1997) looked specifically at adolescence and their attachment to parents and friends and how this attachment relates to self-image.  Adolescence is a critical time to study because this developmental stage involves identity formation and an increased vulnerability to others’ opinions.  Adolescence and young adulthood is also a common time period for eating disorders to emerge.  In Koon’s study, the Offer Self-Image Questionnaire, the Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment and the Group Environment Scale were administered.  Koon’s results supported the idea that attachment to parents and friends is very important to an adolescent.  He found attachment had a positive impact on one’s self-image and that feeling secure with these relationships and attachments eases some of the confusion and uncertainty of adolescence.  Therefore, having a strong social support in one’s life makes it easier for people to deal with difficult things and helps improve that individual’s self-image.

Eating Behaviors and College Women
     A study by Ackard, Croll, and Kearney-Cooke (2002) looked at the dieting behavior among college women and its association with disordered eating habits, body image, and psychological problems.  Sadly, many of the dieting individuals were, in fact, normal weight for their height.  These authors quoted a study by Stephenson, Levy, Sass and McGarvey (1985), which found that 34.1 million men and women dieters were found to be of normal weight as compared to 22.6 million dieters who were overweight. 
     The researchers administered the Eating Disorders Inventory – 2, the Center for Epidemiological Studies – Depression scale, the Rosenberg Self-Esteem scale, the Trait Meta-Mood Scale, and the Obligatory Exercise Questionnaire to 560 female university students.  The participants current Body Mass Index was also calculated and they were asked if they ever dieted to lose weight.  The results indicated that dieting frequency was positively associated with eating disorders and body dissatisfaction.  They also indicated that dieting frequency was associated with relationship issues, such as distrust in relationships with others.  The authors of the study claim that using a “normal,” or representative, sample of female college students allow them to better understand more behaviors than when using only a sample from a weight-loss or eating disorder facility.

Body Dissatisfaction
     Women are the focus of the majority of studies conducted about body satisfaction because women have been found, in general, to be less satisfied with their bodies than men.  Cash and Henry (1995) conducted a national survey about women’s body images in the United States.  These researchers found that body dissatisfaction represents a “normative discontent” among women in our society (p 25).  Also, data collected during this survey indicated that women possess more negative body-image than men in our country.  Therefore, women are the population that experience the most body dissatisfaction and will be the focus of the current research. 
     The existence of a negative body image can be detrimental to the health of an individual.  For example, Brown, Cash and Mikulka (1990) claim that the interest in body image and the rise in research about this topic is in part due to the prevalence of eating disorders in our culture.  Therefore, these authors see body dissatisfaction as a precursor for the development of an eating disorder.  Similarly, Rosen, Srebnik, Saltzber, and Wendt (1991) point out that a negative attitude about body shape and weight along with distortions of body image are criterion for a diagnosis of an eating disorder.  These authors also make the claim that relapse after treatment of an eating disorder has been connected to body image disturbance.  Therefore, the literature appears to support a relationship between body dissatisfaction and mental disorders such as eating disorders.

Social Comparison
      A study by Heinberg and Thompson (1992) took Festinger’s theory of social comparison and applied it to young women in our society.  The theory claims that all individuals have a natural desire to compare themselves to others.  This idea is important in our culture because people no longer compare themselves only to people they encounter in their lives, but also to celebrities and models that the media gives us access to.  These researchers developed a scale to measure the importance young women place on social comparison targets and correlated these scores to the Drive for Thinness, Bulimia, and Body Dissatisfaction subscales of the Eating Disorders Inventory.  The results demonstrated the connection between social comparison and disordered eating habits.  They found that women tended to make an upward comparison to media figures instead of average people, and therefore lowered their own satisfaction with themselves.  Therefore, social comparison can be detrimental to a women’s self-image especially when they compare themselves in an upward fashion.

Perception
     A study by Gibson and Thomas (1991) sought to replicate previous research demonstrating that self-evaluations of one’s competence in school, in relationships, and psychological health were related to weight concern and body image.  These researchers administered the Eating Disorder Inventory, the Multidimensional Body-Self Relations Questionnaire, and competency ratings adapted from Brownfain by Hesse-Biber.  The results indicated that perceptions of weight and shape were more important than actual weight and shape.  Also, these perceptions were important in relation to perceived social competence but not as important in relation to other areas of one’s life.  Therefore, the researchers supported previous findings that self-image affected perceived competence but only in social areas of one’s life.
     Perception is a crucial aspect of body image and satisfaction.  Monteath and McCabe (1997) operationally defined body dissatisfaction as the difference between perceived body size and ideal body size.  Fallon and Rozin (1985), as discussed by Monteath and McCabe, found that a significant difference exists between females’ perceived body size and desired body size.  Typically, the difference was that the women desired to be thinner than they perceived themselves to be.  The societal ideal affects women’s desired sizes because these researchers found women whose bodies were consistent the current ideal were much more likely to have a healthy body image.  Therefore, the difference between actual and desired body size effect body satisfaction as does the ideal body size supported by our culture. 
     Perception is an important aspect of mental health because often one’s perception of the situation has more influence on reactions than does the reality of the situation, even if these two things are in conflict.  For example, Desmond, Price, Gray, & O’Connell (1986) found perception of weight rather than actual weight was a better predictor of dieting behavior and disordered eating patterns.  Unfortunately, an astounding 43% of adolescent girls in the study who were calculated to be of normal weight perceived themselves to be heavy and 39% of girls who were calculated to be thin perceived themselves to be of normal weight.  These researchers suggested we encourage young girls to go to qualified sources, such as teachers, doctors and school nurses, in order to obtain accurate information regarding weight and eating habits.
     Grissett and Norvell (1992) added to the view of research about social support (Koon, 1997) by claiming that eating disordered women lack skills required to not only form new relationships, but to effectively take advantage of social support already existing in their environments, thus losing the support and positive self-image that is gained by these relationships.  These researchers found there was actually no large difference between the amount of social support that exists in eating disordered women’s lives and non-eating disordered women.  However, the quality of the social support and the use of interpersonal relationships is deficit in women with disordered eating habits.  Therefore, the mere perception of poor social skills and less social support may effect or be effected by an eating disorder.

Social Support
     Perceived social support has been defined in the literature in a variety of ways.  For example, Procidano and Heller (1983) include different operational definitions for the perception of social support.  Procidano defines it as the “extent to which an individual believes that his/her needs for support, information, and feedback are fulfilled” (p 2).  Heller claims that an individual seeks support after something arises to which that person must respond and the person needs help dealing with that thing.  Perceived support, then, is the help that individual feels is available from the people in his or her life.
     Tardy (1985), as discussed by Zimet, Dahlem, Zimet, and Farley (1988), attempts to consolidate the variety of social support definitions by focusing on five important parts of this issue.  He feels the definition must specify direction, meaning whether the support was give or received.  The definition must also look at disposition, specifically availability and usage of support resources and at the description and satisfaction of the support.  Finally, Tardy includes content, meaning the form of the support, and network, or the social system that provides the support.  Tardy feels that by looking at these different dimensions of social support, a researcher can obtain the perceived social support in a person’s life.
     Zimet, Dahlem, Zimet, and Farley (1988) examine social support further by attempting to answer how it operates in one’s life.  These authors claim that social support may not only be directly helpful to a person, but also act as a buffer against stress.  Specifically, support may increase one’s self-esteem and sense of control, thereby lessening any effects of stress.  Finally, the authors discuss how social support may somehow strengthen the immune system in one’s body.  Therefore, when examining social support, it is important to clearly define it and to theorize how it may operate in a particular situation.

Current Study 
     The present study seeks to explore the link between body image, eating behavior, and perception of interpersonal relationships.  Specifically, the degree of body satisfaction and attitudes toward food will be obtained and then correlated with the perception of family and friend support.  The hypothesis of this study is that low scores on measures of body image will be correlated to low scores on perceived familial and friend support measures.  Therefore, the prediction is that body satisfaction and attitudes toward food are positively correlated to perceived social support.