Individual psychopathology relative to reports of unwanted sexual experiences as predictor of a bulimic eating pattern.

Abstract

The goal of this study was to determine whether family and individual psychopathology mediate the relationship between unwanted sexual experiences and bulimic eating behavior. Sixty-one women diagnosed with bulimia nervosa and 92 women students and university staff who had never met critia for an eating disorder completed standardized questionnaires on eating behavior, sexual abuse, individual psychopathology, and family psychopathology. Linear regression showed bulimic eating behavior to be significantly related to sexual abuse (beta = .40; p < .0001; R2 = 8.9%). However, multiple regression analyses with family and individual psychopathology as independent variables in addition to sexual abuse showed only individual psychopathology to predict significantly abnormal eating behavior (beta = .53, p < .0001; overall R2 = 49.6%). Specifically, depressive symptoms, suicidality, and impulsive behavior, but not substance abuse, were the components of individual psychopathology most directly associated with bulimia. The findings suggest that the primary focus in treatment should not be the traumatic events themselves, but their long-term consequences for the individual.