Think Yourself Thin: Concern for Appropriateness Mediates the Link between Hypnotizability and Disordered Eating

There has been no research examining why people with disordered eating tend to be highly hypnotizable. The authors examine the hypothesis that concern for appropriateness mediates the association between hypnotizability and disordered eating. Fifty participants aged 15 to 30 completed the Eating Attitudes Test-26 (EAT-26) and the Concern for Appropriateness Scale (CAS) and were administered the Stanford Hypnotic Susceptibility Scale: Form C (SHSS:C). EAT-26 scores predicted CAS scores (β = 0.24, p <.001), CAS scores predicted SHSS:C scores (β = 0.38, p <.001), and the mediation model was significant (Sobel Test; R² =.24, z = 2.54, p <.01). Individuals with problematic eating attitudes may tend to be more hypnotizable than those with normal eating attitudes at least in part because they are highly influenced by interpersonal messages.