Research Project

AND GENERAL DESIRABILITY FOR CONTROL IN A SAMPLE OF

EATING DISORDER PATIENTS AND COLLEGE STUDENT CONTROLS

The existing literature on causative and correlational factors associated with eating disorders indicates that family characteristics and interactions, as well as power and control issues, may be involved in both the onset and maintenance of these disorders (McKenna, 1989; Mitchell & Eckert, 1987). The established findings in both of these areas may be summarized as follows:

(1) Eating disorders are associated with such factors as lack of family cohesion and inconsistency in parental affection (Scalf-McIver & Thompson, 1989) as well as family anxiety about weight and derogatory attitudes toward the overweight (Wold, 1984).

(2) Eating disorder patients often come from families that inhibit independent and assertive behavior in offspring as well as expression of feelings (Johnson & Flach, 1985; Strober & Humphrey, 1987).

(3) The families of many eating disorder patients are marked by high levels of interpersonal conflict (Johnson & Flach, 1985).

(4) The families of eating disorder patients are either neglectful or over-involved with their offspring (Kog and Vandereycken, 1989).

(5) Family interactions of eating disorder patients lead to disruptions in the development of both a stable identify and self-efficacy (Strober & Humphrey, 1987).

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existing literature. The chapter ends with a list of recommendations for future research; these recommendations are formulated on the basis of listed conclusions. Chapter 2 REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE Introduction The study examined for relationships between the family characteristic of parental authority and the participant characteristics of acceptance of authority, directiveness, depression, and desire for control in samples of patients with eating disorders and in a sample of college student controls with normal eating behavior. This chapter places it in context by reviewing the literature on familial contributions to eating disorders and the power/control issues that often underlie such disorders. The review begins with a brief description of the general characteristics of eating disorder patients. Characteristics of Eating Disorder Patients Based on an extensive review of the empirical literature on eating disorders, McKenna (1989) concluded that one of the pivotal features of the personality of individuals with eating disorders is secrecy. Feeling deep shame over their disturbed eating behavior, they often hide it from others. McKenna points out that while there are no intrapsychic or interpersonal configurati
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Approximate Word count = 5685
Approximate Pages = 23 (250 words per page)

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