Date of Award
8-2025
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
College/School
College of Humanities and Social Sciences
Department/Program
Counseling
Thesis Sponsor/Dissertation Chair/Project Chair
Shannon O'Connor
Thesis Sponsor/Dissertation Chair/Project Chair
Christopher M. King
Committee Member
Samantha Coyle-Eastwick
Committee Member
Michael Bixter
Committee Member
Katherine Jean Forney
Abstract
Prior literature has identified peer groups as a primary source of influence on disordered eating development. Specifically, peer similarity in eating disorder behaviors (e.g., food restriction, binge-eating, purging) and cognitions (e.g., fear of being fat, overvaluation of weight/shape) has been attributed to peers’ shared emphasis on weight, shape, and eating. However, not everyone exposed to weight-conscious peers develops disordered eating. The following two studies aimed to expand the literature on the relationship between exposure to weight-conscious peers and four disordered eating constructs that tap into both cognitive and behavioral symptoms: general eating psychopathology, thin-ideal internalization, binge-eating, and compensatory behaviors. Study 1 explored if temperamental proclivity for social closeness moderated the relationship between perceived exposure to weight-conscious peers and the four disordered eating constructs. Main effects of perceived exposure to weight-conscious peers were significant for all disordered eating outcomes. Social closeness did not significantly predict disordered eating nor moderate the relationship between exposure to weight-conscious peers and disordered eating. Study 2 used Actor-Partner Interdependence Models (APIM) to explore if individuals’ perceptions of their peer group’s weight/shape focus was consistent with collateral reports of the peer group (i.e., reflect the group’s actual weight/shape focus) or is better explained by the individual’s disordered eating. The four disordered eating constructs in Study 1 were again incorporated. Results indicated that perception of peers’ weight/shape focus was better explained by an individual’s own disordered eating, such that those who engage in binge-eating and/or compensatory behaviors, and those with greater general eating psychopathology and thin-ideal internalization, perceived their peers as being more weight/shape focused. These findings suggest that measures of peer perception may not represent peer influence on disordered eating—rather, they reflect how disordered eating biases one’s perception of their peers.
File Format
Recommended Citation
Haller, Leora L., "Exploring Individual Differences as Moderators of Perceived Peer Influence on Disordered Eating" (2025). Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects. 1599.
https://digitalcommons.montclair.edu/etd/1599