Body-Image Disturbances in Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia Nervosa: A Meta-Analysis of Extant Research

Body-image disturbances are key among the diagnostic criteria for anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. However, the specific nature of this disturbance is not precisely defined by DSN-III-R or DSN-IV. The numerous body-image assessment techniques have generated inconsistent and conflicting results concerning the nature of body image in the eating disorders. This study is the first quantitative review, a meta-analysis of (n = 59) studies of body image among anorexics and bulimics relative to controls. The results indicated that attitudinal measures of body dissatisfaction, including perceptual self-ideal discrepancy measures, produce much larger effect sizes for clinical populations than do perceptual assessments of size estimation accuracy. Attitudinal measures of body image also differentiate bulimic and anorexic groups, whereas perceptual distortion assessments do not.