Identification of "binge-prone" women: an experimentally and psychometrically validated cluster analysis in a college population

Disordered eating in women: implications for the obesity pandemic

Contemporary Western society emphasizes thinness for women, and the ideal female body size has become progressively smaller over the past half century. Meanwhile, the actual female body size has increased steadily, and rates of aberrant attitudes and behaviours surrounding food and weight have risen and tend to be much more common in overweight individuals. Thus disordered eating and excess body weight may perpetuate each other's development. We have synthesized the literature concerning female body size and disordered eating within a sociocultural context. Eight cognitions and behaviours that occur in women were examined: media exposure, weight stereotypes, body dissatisfaction, dieting, "fat talk," emotional eating, perfectionism, and the "superwoman" ideal. The research literature suggests that these factors may play a role in both disordered eating and obesity. Furthermore, these factors may induce triggers, exacerbated by perfectionism and excess weight, that increase the risk of binge eating. These triggers include interpersonal discrepancies, low interpersonal esteem, depressive affect, and dietary restraint. Comprehensive interventions targeting the indicated sociocultural cognitions and behaviours, combined with healthy living education, may be the most effective strategy for reducing the prevalence of disordered eating and obesity among females.

Are oral, obsessive, and hysterical personality traits related to disturbed eating patterns? A general population study of 6,313 men and women

In this study, we explored 3 psychodynamically defined personality traits as predictors of eating disturbances among men and women in the general population. The Basic Character Inventory (Torgersen, 1980) was used to measure oral, obsessive, and hysteria traits along with the Eating Disturbance Scale (Rosenvinge et al., 2001). Oral personality factors were the primary predictors of eating disturbances in both genders-both men and women with eating disturbances tended to score highly on measures of emotional instability, self-doubt, compliance, and sensitivity. In women, the presence of oral personality factors in addition to the absence of the obsessive factor Parsimony accounted for 16% of the variance in eating disturbances. In men, oral personality factors in addition to the presence of the hysterical factor Imagination accounted for 13% of the variance in eating disturbances. This last finding suggests that, in addition to oral characteristics, men with eating disturbances may exhibit dissociative traits and imaginative absorption.

The gender specificity of emotional, situational, and behavioral indicators of binge eating in a diet-seeking obese population

OBJECTIVE

This study investigated the unique gender correlates of binge eating severity in a diet-seeking population.

METHOD

This sample consisted of 288 self-admitted patients enrolled in a residential weight loss program between 1996 and 1997. Subjects were administered several questionnaires including (a) the Binge Eating Scale, (b) the Beck Depression Inventory, (c) the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, (d) 5-point scales of eating related foci, and (e) 7-point scales of subject confidence in controlling their eating under various circumstances. Data were analyzed in terms of stepwise regression analyses.

RESULTS

Regression results revealed that while men and women share some common predictors of binge eating severity, there are also some gender-specific correlates. Men in our sample were prone to binge eat because of negative emotions (i.e., depression and anger), while binge eating severity for women in our sample was most strongly related to diet failure and tests of moderate eating.

DISCUSSION

The strength of the distinctive gender-specific regressions for binge eating severity suggests that the problems of binging in obese males and females are derivatives of differential sex role expectations. This interpretation and clinical implications are the focus of the discussion.

Personality factors and weight preoccupation: a continuum approach to the association between eating disorders and personality disorders

OBJECTIVE

Evidence shows a high comorbidity of eating disorders and some forms of personality disorder. Adopting a dimensional approach to both, our study explored their connection among a non-clinical sample.

METHOD

191 young women completed personality scales of general neuroticism, and of borderline, schizotypal, obsessive-compulsive, and narcissistic (both adjustive and maladaptive) traits. Weight preoccupation (WP), as a normal analogue of eating disorders, was assessed with scales from the Eating Disorder Inventory, and height and weight measured. The data were analysed with multiple regression techniques, with WP as the dependent variable.

RESULTS

In low to normal weight subjects, after controlling for the significant influence of body mass, the specific predictors of WP in the regression model were borderline personality and maladaptive narcissism, in the positive direction, and adjustive narcissism and obsessive-compulsiveness in the negative direction. In heavier women, narcissism made no contribution--nor, more significantly, did body mass.

CONCLUSIONS

Patterns of association between eating pathology and personality disorder, especially borderline and narcissism, can be clearly mapped across to personality traits in the currently non-clinical population. This finding has important implications for understanding dynamics of, and identifying individuals at risk for, eating disorders.