Appearance versus health: does the reason for dieting affect dieting behavior?

This study investigated whether dieting out of concern for one's health, as opposed to for appearance reasons, is associated with the same negative consequences normally associated with chronic dieting. One hundred student and 96 community women dieters completed measures of various eating behaviors, psychological variables, and motivations behind their dieting. The findings indicated that individuals who were motivated to change their appearance through dieting were younger than those dieting to improve their health. They were also more likely to use drastic dieting strategies, and to score higher on measures of disinhibited eating, or lapses in restraint. On the other hand, dieting driven by health concerns was associated with fewer negative sequelae. These results suggest that not all dietary behavior labelled as "dieting" is equally harmful, and that the driving force behind the dieting is a more important factor to consider than dietary restrictions per se.