Does rivalry between women influence eating habits? New research published in Adaptive human behavior and physiology suggests it might. According to the study, stress from female competition for status and male attention is linked to disordered eating attitudes and behaviors. Surprisingly, although this link weakened with age, it persisted in women beyond menopause, challenging common assumptions that social competition is primarily the province of young women.

Although cultural and media influences on body image and eating behaviors have been widely studied, researchers wanted to examine how stress from competing with other women for status and attention from men might have a unique impact on eating behaviors. Unlike previous studies that focused primarily on cultural ideals, this research sought to understand whether competitive stress in women was an important social factor contributing to disordered eating behaviors in different age groups.

Evolutionary theories suggest that intrasexual competition between females may have adaptive roots, such as delayed reproduction when social stress is high. This perspective posits that female competition in areas such as physical appearance and social status might once have served a beneficial purpose, but that now, in a modern context, it can lead to unhealthy behaviors like restrictive dieting or weight loss. binge eating.

“Years ago, when I was a postdoctoral researcher with Charles Crawford, I researched the factors influencing eating disorders. It was a time when anorexia was getting a lot of attention in the media in particular and we were exploring the idea that reproductive suppression might be a factor,” explained the study author. . Catherine Salmonprofessor of psychology at the University of Redlands.

“Linda Mealey had also suggested that suppression of female competitors by women might be part of the phenomenon. So we looked at the role of female competition, male attention, social support, various factors and part of that was the Development of Female Competitive Stress Test (FCST) for an adolescent population, as this was where most of the eating disorder research was focused.

“This most recent study aimed to expand the measure to examine it in an older female population – my co-author, Jessica Hehman, is interested in the effects on lifespan and the effect of menopause on women’s competition.”

Researchers conducted two studies to examine the relationship between female competitive stress and disordered eating behaviors. In the first study, they recruited 103 young adult female students aged 18 to 22, asking them to complete a series of surveys measuring various factors.

Participants answered questions designed to measure the level of stress they felt competing with other women, particularly regarding social status and physical appearance. To assess disordered eating tendencies, they completed the Eating Attitudes Test, a widely used questionnaire that assesses attitudes toward food and body image, focusing on behaviors such as preoccupation with dieting, bingeing food and purging.

Researchers analyzed data from these surveys to determine whether competition-related stress was associated with higher levels of disordered eating. They found that women who reported being more stressed by competition with other women tended to have more disordered eating attitudes and behaviors.

Specifically, competitive stress accounted for approximately 26% of the variance in disordered eating attitudes and a smaller, but still notable, 4% in disordered eating behaviors. This means that while other factors certainly contribute to these behaviors, competitive stress plays a measurable role in eating disorders in young adult women.

The second study expanded the sample to include 295 women aged 30 and older. This older group was recruited from the general population and participants were asked about their current level of competitive stress as well as their level of stress when they were younger. They also conducted similar assessments of disordered eating behaviors. Additionally, researchers collected information on participants’ menopause and marital status to see how life stages might affect competitive stress and eating behaviors.

Results from the older sample offered additional insights. Competitive stress in women was still associated with disordered eating attitudes and behaviors, although the strength of the link was somewhat weaker than in the younger group. Interestingly, although the researchers had hypothesized that competitive stress might decrease with age, they found that it did not disappear and was in fact elevated in postmenopausal women.

“We expected that disordered eating attitudes would decline with age, and that’s what happened, but they didn’t go away,” Salmon told PsyPost. “Additionally, female competitive stress scores were elevated in postmenopausal women.”

The results suggest that some women may continue to experience competition-related stress later in life, potentially due to social or personal factors that were not directly measured in this study. Additionally, marital status played a role: Single women reported higher levels of competition-related stress than married women, but marital status was not a significant predictor of disordered eating behaviors.

Research indicates “that female competition is not limited to young women (to the ‘Mean Girls’), but that this occurs throughout life and is influenced by individual differences,” Salmon explained. “This means that the stress of such competition in terms of influencing eating behavior/attitudes towards eating is not limited to women of childbearing age, some women of childbearing age may also be vulnerable.”

As with all research, these results have limitations. The data also came exclusively from the United States, so the results may not generalize to other cultures with different social dynamics. Future research could expand this line of study by including more diverse populations, such as non-Western cultures or men, and investigating additional factors that may protect individuals or make them more susceptible to competitive stress and eating disorders. Understanding these elements could pave the way for more tailored support and treatment options for people affected by eating disorders.

“There was still a lot of unexplained variance in the FCST scores, so we need future work to include additional variables that might be relevant,” Salmon said.

The study, “The female competitive stress test: effects on eating disorders beyond adolescence», was published on September 7, 2024.