Attributional Style in the Eating Disorders

Abstract

Previous research has shown that patients with eating disorders have a characteristic cognitive bias, making internal attributions when evaluating negative events. However, there is less clarity about their attributions for positive events. There are suggestions that this cognitive style might be influenced by depressed mood. This study examines attributional style in the eating disorders for positive and negative events, independent of covariant effects of depression. Twenty-five eating-disordered women and 26 nonclinical women each completed measures of attributional style, depressed mood, and eating pathology. They also completed a measure of verbal intelligence (to ensure comparability of groups). Women with an eating disorder had a greater tendency to attribute negative situations to the self when compared with nonclinical women, even when differences in depressed mood were controlled for. There were no comparable differences in positive attributional biases. Women with an eating disorder adopt a self-blaming style when evaluating negative events, and such self-blame is likely to contribute to the maintenance of an eating disorder. This suggests that therapy for the eating disorders should include an element that focuses on highlighting and re-evaluating such interpretations.