Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2012:2012:290813.
doi: 10.1100/2012/290813. Epub 2012 Apr 1.

Eating disorders and intrasexual competition: testing an evolutionary hypothesis among young women

Riadh Abed  1 , Sunil Mehta, Aurelio José Figueredo, Sarah Aldridge, Hannah Balson, Caroline Meyer, Robert Palmer
Affiliations

Eating disorders and intrasexual competition: testing an evolutionary hypothesis among young women

Riadh Abed et al. ScientificWorldJournal. 2012.

Abstract

The sexual competition hypothesis (SCH) contends that intense female intrasexual competition (ISC) is the ultimate cause of eating disorders. The SCH explains the phenomenon of the pursuit of thinness as an adaptation to ISC in the modern environment. It argues that eating disorders are pathological phenomena that arise from the mismatch between the modern environment and the inherited female adaptations for ISC. The present study has two aims. The first is to examine the relationship between disordered eating behavior (DEB) and ISC in a sample of female undergraduates. The second is to establish whether there is any relationship between disordered eating behavior and life history (LH) strategy. Participants completed a battery of questionnaires examining eating-related attitudes and behaviors, ISC, and LH strategy. A group of 206 female undergraduates were recruited. A structural equation model was constructed to analyze the data. ISC for mates was significantly associated with DEB, as predicted by the SCH. DEB was found to be predicted by fast LH strategy, which was only partially mediated by the SCH. The results of this study are supportive of the SCH and justify research on a clinical sample.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Factor Analytic Structural Equation Model for Evolutionary Psychology of Disordered Eating Behaviors in Female Undergraduates.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Russell G. Anorexia nervosa. In: Gelder MG, Lopez-Ibor JJ, Andreasen NC, editors. New Oxford Textbook of Psychiatry. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press; 2003. pp. 835–855.
    1. Fairburn C. Bulimia nervosa. In: Gelder MG, Lopez-Ibor JJ, Andreasen NC, editors. New Oxford Textbook of Psychiatry. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press; 2003. pp. 856–867.
    1. Mealey L. Anorexia: a losing strategy? Human Nature. 2000;11(1):105–116. - PubMed
    1. Surbey MK. Anorexia nervosa, amenorrhea, and adaptation. Ethology and Sociobiology. 1987;8(supplement 3):S47–S61.
    1. Voland E, Voland R. Evolutionary biology and psychiatry: the case of anorexia nervosa. Ethology and Sociobiology. 1989;10(4):223–240.