The Relationship Between Physical, Sexual, and Emotional Abuse and Unhealthy Weight Loss Behaviors

Abstract

The authors investigated the relationship between abuse in adult relationships and the tendency to engage in unhealthy weight loss behaviors. Undergraduate women responded to questions regarding weight loss behaviors, whether or not they had recently been in an abusive relationship, and perceived body image. Results indicated that women who had recently been in abusive relationships were more likely to endorse unhealthy weight loss. Implications for college counselors are discussed. ********** Body image and a desire to lose weight are important concerns among college women. For example, in a representative sample of 4,609 U.S. undergraduate students, Lowry et al. (2000) found that 60% of college women were trying to lose weight, although only 30% were considered overweight based on body mass indices. In turn, studies have shown that college students often engage in unhealthy weight loss behaviors. For example, Mintz and Betz (1988) reported that 64% of undergraduate women engaged in behaviors classified as binging, purging, chronic dieting, or subthreshold bulimic activity. Eighty-two percent reported that they engaged in at least one dieting behavior daily. Similarly, Mintz and O'Halloran (2000) found that approximately 24% of their undergraduate sample engaged in behaviors that met Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fourth edition (DSM-IV; American Psychiatric Association [APA], 1994) criteria for an earing disorder. Correspondingly, unhealthy weight loss behaviors are an important clinical concern for counselors who work with college women. A factor that may be associated with unhealthy weight loss behaviors is the experience of physical, sexual, or emotional abuse (de Groot & Rodin, 1999; Kent, Waller, & Dagnan, 1999; Read, Stern, Wolfe, & Ouimette, 1997). Much of this research has focused solely on the major diagnosable clinical disorders (i.e., anorexia or bulimia nervosa) and has primarily addressed abuse that has occurred in childhood. Results of this line of research have been mixed, with some studies reporting a relationship between childhood abuse and unhealthy weight loss behaviors (e.g., Douzinas, Fornari, Goodman, Sitnick, & Packman, 1994; Mazzeo & Espelage, 2002) and other studies reporting little or no relationship (e.g., Pope & Hudson, 1992). The relationship between more recent (i.e., adult) physical, sexual, or emotional abuse and unhealthy weight loss behaviors has not been as well examined as has been the relationship with childhood abuse. Several studies have documented a relationship between sexual victimization, physical assault, and other types of trauma and poor body image/low self-esteem (e.g., Billingham & Patterson, 1998; Read et al., 1997), but these studies did not address actual unhealthy weight loss behaviors as an outcome variable. We did, however, locate two studies that addressed the relationship between abuse in an adult relationship and unhealthy weight loss behaviors. Kaner, Bulik, and Sullivan (1993) found a significantly greater incidence of adult physical abuse in women with bulimia than in a female nonbulimic control group (40.0% versus 5.9%, respectively), whereas Kenardy and Ball (1998) reported that recent abuse predicted disordered eating in women ages 18 to 22 years. Although this research provides preliminary evidence supporting a relationship between experiencing abuse as an adult and unhealthy weight loss behaviors, several unanswered questions remain. First, these studies did not address the relationship between recent emotional abuse and unhealthy weight loss behaviors, focusing only on sexual and physical abuse. Given the evidence of a relationship between childhood emotional abuse and later weight loss pathology (e.g., Kent & Waller, 2000; Kent et al., 1999), exploring this relationship in adults seems warranted. Second, because we could locate only two studies that examined the relationship between experiencing sexual or physical abuse as an adult and unhealthy weight loss behaviors, it seems important to attempt to replicate these prior findings. …