Gender similarities in the relationship between psychological aspects of disordered eating and self-silencing.

Abstract

A recent and major focus in the psychology of men and masculinity has been the attempt to better understand men’s experiences of disordered eating. Previously, research with women suggested emotional self-denial in the context of interpersonal relationships, self-silencing, predicted disordered eating. Based on evidence suggesting that both men and women share the same basic psychological aspects underpinning disordered eating, the current study sought to document a relationship between selfsilencing and disordered eating. Measures of the psychological aspects of disordered eating (Eating Disorders Inventory) and the standard measure of self-silencing (Silencing the Self Scale) were administered and analyzed in a non-clinical, collegiate sample of 82 men and 140 women between the ages of 18 –22 years. Results show that self-silencing predicted disordered eating equally well in both men and women, and the magnitude of the relationship was large (r .63, p .001; r .75, p .001). Canonical correlations suggest that the factor structures of the measures that assessed these relationships were similar for both men and women. Implications of these findings for further research and practice are discussed.