Fat distribution as a risk factor for weight and eating concerns

Abstract

This study tested the hypothesis that women whose fat is more distributed in the hips and buttocks would have greater body dissatifaction and disordered eating behavior than women with a more abdominal distribution of adipose tissue. The study also tested whether body dissatifaction and the validity of self‐reported waist and hip measurements were related. The degree of weight preoccupation and body dissatifaction was determined in 77 women between the ages of 21 and 50. The validity of self‐reported waist and hip measurements was assessed by comparing waist and hip circumferences measured by the subjects with circumferences obtained by a single trained expert. Women with the greatest distribution of their fat in the hips and buttocks, relative to the abdomen and waist, were the most eating disordered, and viewed being at the “right” weight as more central to their sense of self. No significant association was found between a subject's preoccupation with weight and the magnitude of error between the self‐reported measurements and those obtained by the trained expert. Significant correlations were found between the subject‐ and expert‐measured waist and hip circumferences (.94 and 0.88), as well as between the waist‐to‐hip circumference ratio (WHR) obtained from the subject and expert values (.87). The regression coefficient (a = 0.86) and the intercept (b = 0.11) for the equation relating the WHRs obtained from the subject and expert measurements also suggest that self‐reported subject waist and hip circumferences produce valid estimates of the parameter WHR. Copyright © 1990 Wiley Periodicals, Inc., A Wiley Company