Abstract
Background: Although previous studies have shown an inverse relation between life meaning and eating disorder symptoms, the correlational nature of this evidence precludes causal inferences. Therefore, this study used an experimental approach to test the causal impact of life meaning on individuals' weight and shape concerns.Methods: Female students at risk for developing an eating disorder (N = 128) were randomly assigned to the control or the meaning condition, which involved thinking about and committing to pursue intrinsically valued life goals. A color-naming interference task was used to assess the motivational salience of body-related stimuli, and self-report measures were used to assess participants' overvaluation of weight and shape.Results: The meaning manipulation was effective in activating intrinsically valued life goals. However, it did not result in lower self-reported overvaluation of weight and shape or lower color-naming interference effects of body-related stimuli, compared to the control condition. Post-hoc analyses suggested that baseline meaning in life was related to the impact of the manipulation.Conclusions: This experimental study did not provide evidence for a causal influence of life meaning on the overvaluation of weight and shape in a high-risk group. The current findings suggest that we first need to examine the relationship between life meaning and eating disorder symptoms in more detail, before implementing brief meaning manipulations in clinical practice.
Highlights
Eating disorders (EDs) such as anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa are severe mental disorders, marked by emotional distress, psychosocial impairment, and physical morbidity (Stice et al, 2013; Dakanalis et al, 2017)
Manipulation Check The state measures of activated life goals and level of engagement were used as manipulation checks
An independent t-test showed that the meaning manipulation more strongly activated valued life goals (M = 3.94, SD = 0.97) compared to the control condition (M = 2.30, SD = 0.89), with a large effect size [t(126) = 9.93, p < 0.001, d = 1.76]
Summary
Eating disorders (EDs) such as anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa are severe mental disorders, marked by emotional distress, psychosocial impairment, and physical morbidity (Stice et al, 2013; Dakanalis et al, 2017). There is a great need to develop new, evidence-based treatment options that focus on the maintaining factors of EDs. One of the factors that has recently been proposed to be relevant in the development and maintenance of EDs is (reduced) meaning in life (Marco et al, 2017). We investigated whether temporarily enhancing life meaning in a high-risk group can reduce overvaluation of weight and shape, a core symptom of EDs (Fairburn et al, 2003). Previous studies have shown an inverse relation between life meaning and eating disorder symptoms, the correlational nature of this evidence precludes causal inferences. This study used an experimental approach to test the causal impact of life meaning on individuals’ weight and shape concerns
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