Eating Expectancy as a Moderator of Sociocultural Influence on Bulimic Symptoms among High-Risk Female College Students

This study examined the interactive effects of sociocultural influence from different sources (parent, peer, and media) and eating expectancy on bulimic symptoms among 116 female college students experiencing relatively high levels of bulimia nervosa. Participants (M_age = 19.32, SD = 1.26) completed self-report inventories assessing bulimic symptoms, sociocultural influence, and eating expectancy at baseline (T1) and one-year follow-up (T2). The results indicated that eating expectancy moderated the relation between peer influence and future bulimic symptoms. Specifically, peer influence was positively related to bulimic symptoms in higher levels of eating expectancy, whereas peer influence was negatively related to bulimic symptoms in lower levels of eating expectancy. However, media influence independently predicted bulimic symptoms regardless of eating expectancy and parent influence did not predict bulimic symptoms. The findings are discussed with respect to considering sociocultural influence and individual cognition as potential targets for the prevention and intervention of bulimic symptoms.