Body weight and bulimia as discriminators of psychological characteristics among anorexic, bulimic and obese women

Article Abstract:

To assess differences in psychopathology, self-esteem, sense of personal effectiveness, and locus (site) of control among women with bulimia nervosa, 20 underweight bulimic women, 31 normal weight bulimic women and 22 overweight bulimic women were given a battery of psychosocial tests, including the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI). Three comparison groups - 20 anorexics, 22 nonbulimic obese women and 31 healthy women of average weight - were also tested. The women were primarily middle-class, most had at least one year of college, and their average age was 21 years. All three bulimic groups demonstrated lower self-esteem and higher ratings of psychopathology than any comparison group. Underweight bulimic women had the highest ratings of external locus of control (the belief that other people or fate can control your life), the least sense of personal effectiveness, the lowest self-esteem, and the highest ratings of psychopathology. Overweight bulimics tended to be depressed and have relatively higher MMPI ratings on the psychopathic deviate scale, while anorexics tended to have high ratings of social introversion. Anorexics had lower scores than all other groups on MMPI scales of hysteria, psychopathic deviance and schizophrenia. Both underweight and overweight bulimic women demonstrated significantly lower self-esteem than normal-weight bulimics. Results suggest that treatment goals for bulimic women with different weight patterns may require reevaluation and modification. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)

Physiological aspects, Bulimia, Body weight

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Eating disturbances among American minority groups: a review

Article Abstract:

Eating disorders (EDs) are more common among Native American and equally common among Hispanic women as compared to Caucasian women. EDs are less common among black and Asian American women probably due to higher weight tolerance, self-confidence, and less dietary restrictions. Women of the minority communities that identify with middle class values and are well educated and heavier, stand a higher risk of getting EDs. Being overweight is the main risk factor among minority women, while feeling overweight, though not actually so, is the main risk factor for Caucasian women.

Demographic aspects, Minorities, Caucasian race, Whites

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Attachment style and weight concerns in preadolescent and adolescent girls

Article Abstract:

A study of 305 adolescent and preadolescent girls revealed that girls with insecure attachments had higher weight concerns than girls with secure attachments. Earlier research links the development of eating disorders with weight concerns. The group included 32% who were insecurely attached according to a rating based on self-assessment of relationships. Twenty-seven per cent of this group had high enough scores on the weight concerns scale to indicate risk of developing eating disorders, compared to 17% in the securely attached group.

Research, Teenage girls, Body image, Attachment behavior in children, Child attachment, Girls

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