No association between body dissatisfaction and attentional bias towards lower-weight bodies in a non-clinical sample of women: an eye-tracking study

Abstract

Body dissatisfaction is a key risk factor for psychiatric illnesses and is a modifiable target. Previous gaze-tracking research suggests that body dissatisfaction is related to greater attentional bias towards lower-weight bodies. Here, we aimed to partially replicate and extend previous work to verify this association by using realistic body stimuli and a validated scale of body dissatisfaction. Sixty, mostly young, women from the general population underwent eye-tracking while viewing picture pairs of women's bodies morphed to lower and higher weights. Attentional bias was measured as percentage fixation duration, fixation count and first fixations on lower-weight compared to higher-weight bodies. There was weak evidence that all women fixated for longer on lower-weight bodies, and that participants with higher body dissatisfaction spent less time fixating on lower-weight bodies, contrary to our hypotheses and to previous findings, but this effect was not robust to adjustment for age and body mass index. This lack of replication suggests this association is not robust in non-clinical populations. Instead, an overall bias towards lower-weight bodies could contribute to higher levels of body dissatisfaction and risk of mental health problems in younger women. Future studies measuring attentional biases in realistic settings and in clinical populations with eating disorder symptoms are needed.