The influence of weight suppression on the development and maintenance of eating psychopathology

Weight suppression is defined as the difference between an individual's highest weight and their current weight (Lowe, 1984). The literature on weight suppression indicates a significant relationship between weight suppression, restrictive eating, and eating disorder-related variables in both population-based and eating disorder samples. Despite evidence for a prospective relationship between weight suppression and eating disorder symptomatology (e.g., Keel & Heatherton, 2010), no existing model considers weight suppression in the onset or maintenance of eating disorders. The purpose of this research was to examine the relationships among weight suppression, restrictive eating, and eating disorder pathology and to evaluate a proposed model that incorporates weight suppression as a causal variable in the development of eating psychopathology. A total of 204 female undergraduate students used online surveys to complete three batteries of self-report questionnaires spaced four weeks apart. Results indicated that dietary restriction longitudinally predicts eating psychopathology and mediates the prospective relationship between weight suppression and eating psychopathology. Weight suppression was also found to be positively associated with a history of overweight status and a history of dieting behavior. These results highlight the role of dietary restriction in the development of eating psychopathology and suggest that dietary restriction serve as a mechanism through which weight suppressed individuals develop eating disorder symptomatology.