Eating behaviour and body dissatisfaction among dieters, aerobic exercisers and a control group

This study set out to investigate the relationship between body dissatisfaction and eating behaviour in female ‘Weightwatchers’, aerobic exercisers and controls. A questionnaire combining the EAT‐40 (Garner and Garfinkel, 1979), the Body Shape Questionnaire (Cooper et al. 1987) and the Body Esteem Scale (Franzoi and Shields, 1984) was administered to a total of 110 subjects. Descriptive data concerning age, occupation, actual weight, ideal weight, ‘vital statistics’ and height were also collected. Results partially confirmed the first hypothesis, which found ‘Weightwatchers’ scoring the highest on eating disorders and body dissatisfaction. No significant differences were found between controls and aerobic exercisers.