Visser, Lianne (2022) The role of disgust in anorexia nervosa: testing a theoretical model including disgust propensity, self-disgust, and disgust sensitivity. Master thesis, Psychology.
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Abstract
Anorexia nervosa (AN) is characterized by restrictive food intake, an intense fear of gaining weight, and a disturbance in the experience of one’s body weight or shape (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Several previous studies have shown that disgust is related to eating disorder symptoms. There are several types of disgust that might be related to eating disorder symptoms, however it is not yet clear how these types of disgust could contribute to eating disorder symptoms. This study aimed to test a theoretical model which includes disgust propensity, self-disgust, disgust sensitivity, and symptoms of eating disorders. The hypotheses were (1) that disgust propensity would be positively related to symptoms of eating disorders and that self-disgust would mediate this relationship, and (2) that higher levels of disgust sensitivity would be related to a stronger relationship between self-disgust and symptoms of eating disorders. To test these hypotheses, several questionnaires measuring the variables in the theoretical model were administrated to female adolescents with anorexia nervosa (N = 58) and to healthy adolescents who were matched to the patient group based on sex, age, and educational level (N = 42). A simple mediation analysis was performed to test the first hypothesis. Disgust propensity was indeed related to eating disorder symptoms and self-disgust mediated this relationship. A moderated mediation analysis was performed to test the second hypothesis. In contrast to the hypothesis, disgust sensitivity did not moderate the relationship between self-disgust and symptoms of eating disorders. These findings are in line with the idea that disgust propensity leads to self-disgust, which in turn leads to symptoms of eating disorders. As a next step, longitudinal research is necessary to further determine the direction of the relationships in the theoretical model. Keywords: Anorexia nervosa, eating disorder, disgust, disgust propensity, disgust sensitivity, self-disgust.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Master) |
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| Supervisor name: | Glashouwer, K.A. and Jong, P.J. de |
| Degree programme: | Psychology |
| Differentiation route: | Clinical Psychology (CP) [Master Psychology] |
| Date Deposited: | 17 Mar 2022 07:21 |
| Last Modified: | 17 Mar 2022 07:21 |
| URI: | http://gmwpublic.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/322 |
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