Media Release UNSW FACULTY OF SCIENCE 6am, 14 January
Conformists at more risk of eating disorders: study
Young women who conform to the expectations of others and follow the crowd are more likely than
non-conformists to have a negative image of their bodies and signs of eating disorders, a new
psychological study suggests.
Being conformist appears to be a risk factor for such disorders and may provide a target for
therapeutic efforts to treat them, says Dr Lenny R. Vartanian of the UNSW School of Psychology and
Ms Meghan M. Hopkinson, a student in the Department of Psychology, Syracuse University, in a
report published in the journal Body Image.
The researchers also found that young women who are well connected into social networks are less
likely to be conformists and so less likely to develop a negative body image or bulimic symptoms.
The study involved 300 American college students with an average age of about 19 and aimed to
investigate links between social connectedness and conformity and how they relate to an
individual's body image.
The participants were asked about their age, height and weight, then completed a series of
questionnaires to assess their social connectedness, conformity, body image concerns, dietary
restraint and bulimic symptoms. They were also tested for their "internalisation of social standards
of attractiveness" - a way of assessing how much people “buy into” those standards.
"In a general sense, conformity can be seen as an attempt to gain security in a social network," the
report says. "People are highly motivated to feel that they belong and having strong social
connections is associated with better psychological health, whereas rejection and isolation are
associated with poor psychological health.
"Once individuals have achieved the sought-after social security and feel a sense of connection to
others, they should have less of a need to conform to external influences, and therefore be less
likely to internalize societal standards of attractiveness, and less likely to develop body image
problems and disordered eating behaviours."
"Perhaps harnessing a focus on an individual’s own internal qualities (rather than on external
sources of influence) might help reduce conformity and, consequently, reduce internalization, body
dissatisfaction, and disordered eating," they suggest. "This focus on internal qualities, however,
might be difficult for individuals who lack a clearly defined sense of self."
The researchers caution that the study represents only a snapshot of female college students, who
are known to be a high-risk group for developing body dissatisfaction and disordered eating.
Media contacts:
Dr Lenny Vartanian: office 02 9385 8758; 0403 671 767 lvartanian@psy.unsw.edu.au
Faculty of Science media liaison: Bob Beale 0411 705 435 bbeale@unsw.edu.au
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