Sexual abuse and body‐image distortion in the eating disorders

Waller, Glenn; Hamilton, Kate; Rose, Nicola J.; Sumra, Jaspreet; Baldwin, Gillian

doi:10.1111/j.2044-8260.1993.tb01066.x

Cited by 80 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…Research on the behavioral component of body image, however, is still lacking. Previous studies found no differences in the perceptive components in individuals with and without sexual abuse [11,12,13,14]. But there are discrepancies between studies regarding the cognitive-affective component.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 51%

Body Image in Patients with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder after Childhood Sexual Abuse and Co-Occurring Eating Disorder

Dyer¹,

Borgmann²,

Kleindienst³

et al. 2012

Psychopathology

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Background: Body image is a multidimensional construct with cognitive-affective, behavioral and perceptive components. Survivors of childhood sexual abuse report a disturbance of the cognitive-affective component of their body image but not of the perceptive component. It has not yet been examined whether and how the behavioral component is affected. Also, it is still unknown whether the disturbances might be due to the influence of co-occurring eating disorders. Sampling and Methods: The cognitive-affective and behavioral components of the body image of 84 female participants with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after childhood sexual abuse (31 with a co-occurring eating disorder) and 53 healthy participants were assessed via the Dresden Body Image Inventory (Dresdner Körperbildfragebogen-35, DKB-35) and the Body Image Avoidance Questionnaire (BIAQ). Results: PTSD patients reported significantly higher negative scores on all DKB-35 subscales (p < 0.001) and the BIAQ (p = 0.002; p < 0.001). Results remained consistent after accounting for the influence of co-occurring eating disorders (p = 0.021; p = 0.001; p < 0.001). Conclusions: Results show for the first time that the behavioral component of the body image is impaired in female patients with PTSD in addition to the cognitive-affective component. This is not solely due to a comorbid eating disorder. The effect of established treatments on the body image of PTSD patients should be evaluated and new treatment modules should be developed and tested, if necessary.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 51%

Body Image in Patients with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder after Childhood Sexual Abuse and Co-Occurring Eating Disorder

Dyer¹,

Borgmann²,

Kleindienst³

et al. 2012

Psychopathology

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“…Gardner, Gardner, and Morrell (1990) found that sexually abused children had a response bias to report that their bodies were larger than they really were. In an eating disordered sample, Waller, Hamilton, Rose, Sumra, and Baldwin (1993) found positive correlations between BPI and age at first and most recent abuse, suggesting that women who had been abused more recently (after age 14) had a greater tendency to perceptually distort body image compared who not been abused or had been abused before the age of 14. Lastly, Bryam, Wagner, and Waller (1995) found that for women who had high levels of eating psychopathology, significant positive correlations were found between BPI ratings and both age (r = .52) and duration of abuse (r = Ϫ.52); this suggested that women who experienced abuse in pubertal years were more likely to exhibit perceptual body image distortion.…”

mentioning

confidence: 86%

Childhood Sexual Abuse, Body Image, and Disordered Eating: A Structural Modeling Analysis

Williams

Gleaves

2003

Journal of Trauma & Dissociation

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“…In particular, women who reported more recent sexual abuse had a substantially greater level of bodysize overestimation (Waller, Hamilton, Rose, Sumra, & Baldwin, 1993). Exploring the impact of sexual and/or physical abuse among eating-disordered patients and asymptomatic subjects, there was no significant association between abuse experiences and the severity of the eating disorder (Favaro et al, 1998).…”

Section: Impact Of Physical and Sexual Abuse On Body Image In Edmentioning

confidence: 98%

The impact of physical and sexual abuse on body image in eating disorders

Treuer¹,

Koperdák²,

Rózsa

et al. 2005

Eur. Eat. Disorders Rev.

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Objective: The role of childhood sexual abuse as a risk factor for the development of eating disorders has gained considerable attention in the literature in the last few years, especially its role in bulimia nervosa. Although physical abuse was also frequently explored in the history of patients with eating disorders, its role was unclear in the aetiopathogenesis of these disorders. The goal of our study was to test the hypothesis, based on our clinical experience, that physical abuse is more frequent in eating disorders than thought previously and that the patient's distortion in body image is more severe in these cases. Methods: A standardized interview method was used to elicit details of physical and sexual abuse in a group of 63 patients with eating disorders. The frequency of laxative use and the severity of body image distortion was also examined with the Body Attitude Test. These clinical data were analysed on the whole sample and also on the subgroups of eating disorders. Results: We found significantly more severe body image distortions in those patients who had been physically abused (p < 0.05) and there were significantly more severe body image distortions in those patients who had a history of laxative abuse (p < 0.001). Sexual abuse occured in 29%, physical abuse in 57% and laxative abuse in 46% within the whole sample of examined eating disorder patients. Physical abuse and laxative abuse were the most frequent in the binge eating/purging type of anorexia nervosa (92% and 69%). Also, these patients had the worse rates on sexual abuse and body image distortion items. According to our results, the presence of sexual abuse was not associated with more severe body image distortion in eating disorder patients. Conclusions: Childhood physical abuse seems to be a more important factor in the development of body image distortion than had been thought before; its importance in this aspect may be greater than sexual abuse. Physical abuse, laxative abuse and the binge-purge subtype in anorexia nervosa are a considerable risk factor for the severity of the distortion in body image and their presence makes the prognosis of the eating disorder worse. Further studies of the nature of these relationships are warranted.

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Sexual abuse and body‐image distortion in the eating disorders

Cited by 80 publications

References 5 publications

Body Image in Patients with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder after Childhood Sexual Abuse and Co-Occurring Eating Disorder

Body Image in Patients with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder after Childhood Sexual Abuse and Co-Occurring Eating Disorder

Childhood Sexual Abuse, Body Image, and Disordered Eating: A Structural Modeling Analysis

The impact of physical and sexual abuse on body image in eating disorders

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