Functionality appreciation among adolescents and emerging adults with eating disorders: Associations with body appreciation, self-esteem, and eating disorder symptoms

Functionality appreciation has been identified as a core facet of positive body image. While prior work has examined this construct in community and adult clinical samples, little is known about functionality appreciation in adolescents with eating disorders. The present study investigated associations between functionality appreciation, body appreciation, self-esteem, and eating disorder symptom severity in adolescent girls with eating disorders (N = 58, Mage = 16.19). Participants completed the Functionality Appreciation Scale (FAS), Body Appreciation Scale-2 (BAS-2), Single-Item Self-Esteem Scale (SISE), and Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire (EDE-Q). Results showed that adolescent girls with eating disorders reported lowered functionality appreciation scores, similar to those observed in adult clinical populations. Further, functionality appreciation was strongly and positively correlated with body appreciation and moderately and inversely correlated with eating disorder symptom severity. Correlations with self-esteem were weaker and nonsignificant. These findings underscore the importance of functionality appreciation for adolescents with eating disorders. Given its observed associations with both body appreciation and eating disorder symptom severity, functionality appreciation may serve as a relevant target for treatment.