A greater role of emotional than physical or sexual abuse in predicting disordered eating attitudes: the role of mediating variables.

Abstract

Previous research on the role of trauma in eating psychopathology has generally focused on reported childhood sexual abuse. There has been relatively little research addressing the full range of abusive experiences, and none considering their long-term impact on eating. This study investigated the relationships between four forms of reported childhood abuse (physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, neglect) and unhealthy eating attitudes in adult life. Within this relationship, depression, anxiety, and dissociation were considered potential mediators, and age of onset of abuse was considered a potential moderator. A nonclinical sample of 236 women completed self-report measures of abuse, eating psychopathology, and psychological function. Multiple regression analyses were used to test for associations as well as for mediating and moderating influences. When the intercorrelations of the different forms of reported abuse were controlled for, emotional abuse was the only form of childhood trauma that predicted unhealthy adult eating attitudes. That relationship was perfectly mediated by the women's levels of anxiety and dissociation. Age at onset of emotional abuse did not moderate these relationships. Although these results require extension to a clinical sample, the findings underscore the need to consider a history of emotional trauma as a potentially central factor in any abusive history. Treatment may depend on addressing the psychological consequences of such trauma.