Body Dissatisfaction and Self-Disgust as Significant Predictors of Body-Related Attentional Bias. A Virtual Reality and Eye-Tracking Study

Abstract

Body dissatisfaction, fear of gaining weight (FGW) and body anxiety have been extensively studied as some of the strongest risk and maintenance factors of anorexia nervosa (AN) symptomatology. Recently, a new theoretical model introduced self-disgust as a factor that can lead to avoidance behaviors when patients with AN face their body. This can make them vulnerable to relapse. In addition, body-related attentional bias (AB) (e.g., selective attention to weight-related body areas) can limit the efficacy of body exposure therapies. This study aims to investigate the possible predictors of AB, to better understand the underlying mechanisms that contribute to the maintenance of AN symptomatology. A total of 116 college students from the University of Barcelona participated in the study, using a combination of virtual reality and eye-tracking techniques to provide an objective and reliable assessment of AB in a highly realistic environment. Stepwise multiple linear regression analyses were performed to identify possible predictors of AB among body mass index, FGW, body anxiety, body dissatisfaction and self-disgust. The results shows that both body dissatisfaction and self-disgust are significant predictors of AB. While an increase in body dissatisfaction predicted a greater AB towards weight-related body areas (positive regression coefficients: BBody_dissatisfaction→AB > 0, p < .001), the opposite occurred with self-disgust (negative regression coefficients: BSelf_disgust→AB < 0, p < .02). Such results provide initial evidence that self-disgust, which is a more intense negative feeling than body dissatisfaction, leads to gaze avoidance towards weight-related body areas, which are considered disgust elicitors.