Association between childhood physical and emotional abuse and disordered eating behaviors in female undergraduates: An investigation of the mediating role of alexithymia and depression.

Abstract

Although disordered eating behaviors are relatively common among college women, many questions about their etiology remain. In the present study, structural equation modeling was used to investigate potential mediating associations among variables previously found to be associated with the continuum of disordered eating behaviors in a large sample of college women. Results indicated that family conflict, family cohesion, and childhood physical and emotional abuse and neglect were not directly associated with disordered eating. Rather, their association with disordered eating was mediated by alexithymia and depression. These results were cross-validated in a second sample of college women. These data highlight the complexity of disordered eating and provide future directions for the prevention and treatment of the continuum of disordered eating behaviors.

Traumatic events, posttraumatic stress symptomatology and somatoform symptoms in eating disorder patients

“…This can be interpreted to mean that particularly in bulimic subjects with a high degree of psychiatric comorbidity, a traumatic history is probable (Brewerton, 2004;Thompson & Wonderlich, 2004). Other traumata found in samples of ED patients were physical (Rorty, Yager, & Rossotto, 1994) and emotional abuse (Kent, Waller, & Dagnan, 1999), teasing and bullying (Mazzeo & Espelage, 2002), parental break-up and loss of a family member (Dalle et al, 1996;Mahon et al, 2001).…”

Childhood abuse and eating disorders in gay and bisexual men

“…30 Researchers have searched for factors that mediate the relationship of a history of childhood abuse and eating disorders in various populations, although not in gay and bisexual men. Among the factors that have been suggested are psychological factors, such as dissociation, 31 general distress, 30,32 anxiety, 31 depression, 33 substance abuse, 22 and alexithymia (an unawareness or inability to talk about feelings or emotions 30,32,33 ).…”

The Assessment of Alexithymia in Medical Settings: Implications for Understanding and Treating Health Problems

“…There is consistent evidence that alexithymia is elevated in people with eating disorders (Beales & Dolton, 2000;Carano et al, 2006;Cochrane, Brewerton, Wilson, & Hodges, 1993;De Panfilis, Salvatore, Avanzini, Gariboldi, & Maggini, 2001;Kessler, Schwarze, Filipic, Traue, & von Wietersheim, 2006;Mazzeo & Espelage, 2002;Pinaquy, Chabrol, Simon, Louvet, & Barbe, 2003;ZonneyvilleBender, van Goozen, Cohen-Kettenis, van Elburg, & van Engeland, 2002;Zonnevylle-Bender et al, 2004), problematic gambling (Lumley & Roby, 1995;Parker, Wood, Bond, & Shaughnessy, 2005), and alcohol and drug abuse or dependence (El Rasheed, 2001;Haviland, Hendryx, Shaw, & Henry, 1994;Kauhanen, Julkunen, & Salonen, 1992), although perhaps not cigarette smoking and nicotine dependence (Lumley, Downey, Stettner, Wehmer, & Pomerleau, 1994). One comprehensive study found that compared with controls, patients with eating disorders or alcohol-or drugrelated disorders had similar, high levels of alexithymia, and a path analysis suggested that alexithymia predicted depression that predicted the addictive behavior in these disorders (Speranza et al, 2004).…”