Abstract
The current study sought to examine the extent to which gender role adds to the prediction of disordered eating beyond that which is accounted for by biological sex. The current study relied upon the factors derived from a confirmatory factor analysis of the Bem Sex Role Inventory, rather than conventional gender role categories or dimensions of masculinity and femininity. The results of this study revealed that gender role does add to the prediction of disordered eating. However, rather than predicting a greater proportion of the variance on the same subscales of the Eating Disorder Inventory, gender role predicted the variance on entirely different subscales than sex did. The expressive factor predicted 19.1% of the variance on the Interpersonal Distrust subscale, and the instrumental factor predicted 5.1% of the variance on the Perfectionism subscale. Sex, on the other hand, predicted significant portions of the variance on the Eating Disorder Inventory total score, and on the Body Dissatisfaction, Bulimia, Drive for Thinness, Interoceptive Awareness and Ineffectiveness subscales. This suggests that sex and gender role are distinct constructs that maintain unique relationships to the facets of other constructs. In other words, they each provide a specific contribution to the prediction of other variables.
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