Abstract
BackgroundEating disorders are complex disorders that involve medical and psychological symptoms. Understanding the psychological factors associated with different eating disorders is important for assessment, diagnosis, and treatment.MethodsThis study sought to determine on which of the 22 Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI) scales patients with anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and eating disorder not otherwise specified (EDNOS) differed, and whether the PAI can be used to classify eating disorder subtypes. Because we were interested in both whether the PAI could be used to differentiate eating disorder subtypes from each other, as well as from other disorders, we also included a group of patients with major depression.ResultsThe three eating disorder groups did differ significantly from each other, and from the patients with depression, on a number of the PAI scales. Only two PAI scales (Anxiety and Depression), however, exceeded a T-score of 70 for the patients with anorexia nervosa, no scales exceeded a T-score of 70 for the patients with bulimia nervosa or EDNOS, and only two exceeded a T-score of 70 for the patients with depression (Depression and Suicide). A discriminant function analysis revealed an overall correct classification between the groups of 81.6%.ConclusionsThe PAI helps to understand the psychological factors associated with eating disorders and can be used to assist with assessment. Continued investigation using the PAI in an eating disordered population is supported.
Highlights
Eating disorders are complex disorders that involve medical and psychological symptoms
Tasca and colleagues concluded that the binge eating disorder (BED) group generally had lower scores than some or all of the other groups, and that for the most part the patients with restricting anorexia nervosa were not different from the bulimic or the patients with binge-purge anorexia nervosa [3]. These results suggest that there may be some differences on the Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI) scales between different eating disorder groups, perhaps not between patients with anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa
The present study investigated the relation between eating disorders and the PAI scales in a sample of female college students
Summary
Eating disorders are complex disorders that involve medical and psychological symptoms. Understanding the psychological factors associated with different eating disorders is important for assessment, diagnosis, and treatment. The generalizability of the PAI to disordered eating populations and its utility in terms of aiding diagnosis and understanding of symptoms is important for the ongoing psychometric evaluation of the PAI. It is necessary if the PAI is to be used with those suffering from eating disorder symptoms. PAI data can contribute to a more full understanding of eating disorder patients and their treatment considerations. We sought to determine 1) on which of the 22 PAI scales patients with eating disorder subtypes differed from each other, and 2) whether the PAI can differentiate among patients with different eating disorder subtypes, and 3) whether it can distinguish between
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