Female competition stress linked to disordered eating across the lifespan

Does rivalry among 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, while this connection weakened with age, it persisted in women beyond menopause, challenging common assumptions that social competition is mainly a young woman’s concern.

While cultural and media influences on body image and eating behaviors have been widely studied, researchers wanted to examine how stress from competition with other women for status and male attention might uniquely impact eating behaviors. Unlike previous studies that focus primarily on cultural ideals, this research sought to understand if competition stress among women is an important social factor contributing to disordered eating behaviors across different age groups.

Evolutionary theories suggest that intrasexual competition among women could have adaptive roots, such as delaying reproduction when social stress is high. This perspective posits that female competition in areas like physical appearance and social status might have once served a beneficial purpose but now, in a modern context, may drive unhealthy behaviors like restrictive dieting or binge eating.

“Years ago when I was a postdoctoral researcher with Charles Crawford, I did research on factors influencing disordered eating. It was a time when there was a lot of attention being paid to anorexia in the media in particular and we were looking at the idea that reproductive suppression might be a factor,” explained study author Catherine Salmon, a professor of psychology at the University of Redlands.

“Linda Mealey had also suggested that female suppression of competitors might be part of the phenomenon and so we looked at the role of female competition, male attention, social support, a variety of factors and part of that was developing the Female‑Female Competition Stress test (FCST) for an adolescent population, as that was were most of the research on disordered eating was focused.”

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“This most recent study was about extending the measure to look at it in an older female population — my co-author, Jessica Hehman, is interested in across the lifespan effects and the effect of menopause on female competition.”

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

Participants answered questions designed to capture the level of stress they felt from 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 gauges attitudes toward food and body image, focusing on behaviors like dieting preoccupation, binge eating, and purging.

The researchers analyzed the data from these surveys to determine whether competition stress was associated with higher levels of disordered eating. They found that women who reported more stress from competing with other women tended to have more disordered eating attitudes and behaviors.

Specifically, competition stress accounted for around 26% of the variance in disordered eating attitudes and a smaller but still notable 4% in disordered eating behaviors. This means that, although other factors certainly contribute to these behaviors, competition stress plays a measurable role in disordered eating among 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 levels of competition stress as well as their stress levels when they were younger. They also completed similar assessments of disordered eating behaviors. Additionally, the researchers collected information on participants’ menopausal and marital status to see how life stages might affect competition stress and eating behaviors.

The results from the older sample offered additional insights. Female competition stress was still associated with disordered eating attitudes and behaviors, though the strength of the link was somewhat weaker than in the younger group. Interestingly, while the researchers had hypothesized that competition stress might decrease with age, they found that it didn’t disappear and was actually elevated among postmenopausal women.

“We expected that disordered eating attitudes would decrease with age, and they did, but they did not disappear,” Salmon told PsyPost. “In addition, female competition stress scores were elevated in postmenopausal women.”

The findings suggest that some women may continue to feel competition stress well into later 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 stress than married women, but marital status was not a significant predictor of disordered eating behaviors.

The research indicates “that female competition is not just among younger women (à la ‘Mean Girls’) but that it occurs across the lifespan and is influenced by individual differences,” Salmon explained. “This means that the stress of such competition in terms of influencing eating behavior/attitudes toward eating is not just confined to reproductive-age women, some post-reproductive women may be vulnerable as well.”

As with any research, there are limitations to these findings. The data also came exclusively from the United States, so the findings might 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 males, and by investigating additional factors that might protect individuals from or make them more susceptible to competition stress and disordered eating. Understanding these elements could pave the way for more tailored support and treatment options for those 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 may be relevant,” Salmon said.

The study, “The Female Competition Stress Test: Effects on Disordered Eating Beyond Adolescence,” was published September 7, 2024.