Pergamon 01N)5-7967(94)E0031 -D Behav. Res. Ther. Vol. 33, No. I, pp. 85-93, 1995 Copyright © 1994 ElsevierScienceLtd Printed in Great Britain. All rights reserved 0005-7967/95 $7.00 + 0.00 BODY IMAGE, BODY DYSPHORIA, AND DIETARY RESTRAINT: FACTOR STRUCTURE IN NONCLINICAL SUBJECTS DONALD A. WILLIAMSON l, SUSAN E. BARKER I , LISA J. BERTMAN I and DAVID H. GLEAVES2 ~Department of Psychology, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803-5501 and 2The Renfrew Foundation, Philadelphia, Pa, U.S.A. (Received 31 March 1993: received for publication 20 April 1994) Summary--The principal aim of this study was to examine the factor structure of several assessment methods used to measure dietary restraint, body dissatisfaction, and body image. Factor analysis was employed to identify and confirm the primary constructs measured by these assessment methods. A total of 206 undergraduate women were recruited as subjects. This sample was divided into two subsets of 100 and 106 subjects. On the first subset, principle components analysis identified three factors: body dysphoria, dietary restraint, and body image. With the second subset of subjects, confirmatory factor analysis cross-validated this factor structure. A two factor solution, body dysphoria and dietary restraint, was identified and confirmed when the body image measure was converted to a self-minus-ideal discrepancy score. These findings are discussed in relation to the definition of control groups to be used in studies of anorexia and bulimia nervosa. Guidelines for the selection of measures for each of the three factors also are presented. INTRODUCTION Recent theories of anorexia and bulimia nervosa have emphasized three causal variables: body dysphoria, body image disturbances, and dietary restraint (Attie& Brooks-Gunn, 1989; Rosen, 1992; Thompson, 1992; Williamson, 1990). Investigations of samples of nonclinical young women have found a "normative discontent" with body size and high rates of dieting (Cash, Winstead & Janda, 1986; Rodin, Silberstein & Striegel-Moore, 1985). Many young women express concerns about dieting and body size/appearance which are comparable to the level of concern expressed by women diagnosed with anorexia and bulimia nervosa (Polivy & Herman, 1985; Silberstein, Striegel-Moore & Rodin, 1987; Thompson, 1992). Two recent studies of the psychopathology of bulimia nervosa have supported the idea that bulimia is a complex, multifactorial syndrome (Gleaves, Williamson & Barker, 1993; Tobin, Johnson, Steinberg, Staats & Dennis, 1991). Both of these factor analytic studies found three independent factors which described the syndrome of bulimia nervosa: (a) affective and personality disturbances, (b) bulimic behaviors, and (c) dietary restraint. Gleaves et al. (1993) identified a fourth factor, body dissatisfaction. This research suggests that it may be possible to isolate psychopathological features of anorexia and bulimia nervosa that are unique to these syndromes and those that are unique to each disorder. In recent years, an increasing number of studies have attempted to identify such factors by the inclusion of control groups without an eating disorder, but which have elevated scores on measures of dietary restraint (e.g. Counts & Adams, 1985; Lindholm & Wilson, 1988; Laessle, Tuschl, Waadt & Pirke, 1989) or weight preoccupation (Garner, Olmsted, Polivy & Garfinkel, 1984). Nonclinical samples of women with a disturbed body image have also been used in treatment studies (e.g. Rosen, Saltzberg & Srebnik, 1989). These studies have typically included an eating disorder group, a symptomatic group (e.g. high dietary restraint), and a non-eating disorder/non-symptomatic group. Dependent variables have ranged from measurement of body size estimation (Lindholm & Wilson, 1988) to a level of depression (Laessle et al., 1989). There is merit in the use of this research paradigm. Using this basic strategy may make it possible to 'map out' the probable determining variables of the many psychopathological features of BRT 33/1~O 85