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Well-Being and Prejudice toward Obese People in Women at Risk to Develop Eating Disorders

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 January 2013

Alejandro Magallares
Alejandro Magallares*
Affiliation:
Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (Spain)
*
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Alejandro Magallares. Departamento de Psicología Social y de las Organizaciones, Facultad de Psicología UNED. C/ Juan del Rosal, 10, 28040 - Madrid (Spain). E-mail: amagallares@psi.uned.es
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Abstract

The literature has found that eating disorders (ED) patients usually have a depression and anxiety diagnosis. However, not many investigations have studied the relationship between ED and well-being. One of the main problems of patients with ED is their body image. These individuals usually see themselves too big but there are not many investigations that focus on how these patients see people with real weight problems. For this reason in this study it is analyzed how women in risk to develop ED see obese people. 456 female students were selected. It was found that women with high scores in the different subscales of the Eating Attitudes Test 26 (EAT-26; dieting, bulimia and oral control) had lower well-being (both subjective and psychological) and worse attitudes toward obese people (measured with Antifat Attitudes Test, AFA, Beliefs About Obese People Scale, BAOP, and Attitudes Toward Obese People Scale, ATOP) compared with women with low scores in the EAT-26.

La literatura ha encontrado que los pacientes con trastornos de la conducta alimentaria (TCA) tienen como diagnóstico concurrente depresión y ansiedad. Sin embargo, no existen muchas investigaciones que estudien la relación entre TCA y el bienestar. Uno de los principales problemas que presentan los pacientes de TCA es su imagen corporal. Estas personas suelen presentar serias distorsiones a la hora de percibir su propio peso pero no hay muchas investigaciones que se centren en cómo ven este tipo de pacientes a las personas que realmente tienen problemas de peso. Por esta razón, en este estudio se analiza cómo las mujeres en riesgo de desarrollar TCA ven a las personas obesas. 456 estudiantes de género femenino fueron seleccionadas para realizar el estudio. Se encontró que las mujeres con puntuaciones altas en las diferentes subescalas del Eating Attitudes Test (EAT-26, dieta, bulimia y control oral) informaban de un menor bienestar (tanto psicológico como subjetivo) y que tenían peores actitudes hacia las personas obesas (medido con los cuestionarios Antifat Attitudes Test, AFA, Beliefs About Obese People, BAOP, y Attitudes Toward Obese People, ATOP) si se comparaba con las participantes con bajas puntuaciones en el test EAT-26.

Keywords

eating disorderssubjective well-beingpsychological well-beingantifat attitudestrastorno de la conducta alimentariabienestar subjetivobienestar psicológicoactitudes anti-obesos
Type
Research Article
Information
The Spanish Journal of Psychology , Volume 15 , Issue 3 , November 2012 , pp. 1293 - 1302
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012

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