Angelica Maleski
Dr. Ford
Psychology
22 November 2010
Child Abuse and Risk of Eating Disorders in Women
Eating disorders are psychological problems that have been plaguing millions of lives around the US and other parts of the world. Anorexia, bulimia, and binge-eating are the most common types seen among patients. The concrete causes of these disorders are rather vague and vary between patients. Possible sources that prompt the disorders, however, range from low self-esteem, dieting, dissatisfaction, desire for perfection, and family influences such as criticism, and/or even abuse. The victims extend to all different ages and both genders. However, it is noted that risks are much higher among women.
Due to the ambiguous causes of these eating disorders, the researchers of this study decided to conduct an experiment that narrowed down these possibilities and instead focused on one. The study conducted by Rayworth, Wise, and Harlow concentrates on the impact that childhood abuse has on eating disorders. They hypothesize that it serves as a possible risk factor for the development of either Anorexia, Bulemia, or Binge-eating. Because most of the other studies that have been done, that focus on childhood abuse and eating disorders, have been concentrated on the role of sexual abuse rather than physical abuse, the researchers chose to study the overall relationship between a broad range of childhood abuse and eating disorders in a population-based sample of women. In addition to this, they examined whether the association endured in women without previous depression.
The Term Paper on Cause of eating disorders
Eating disorders are not a fad diet or an experiment to lose weight, but they are serious complex disorders that can take many years to recover from. Eating disorders affect five percent of women and one percent of men in the United States. The South Carolina Mental Health Department reports that five to ten percent of girls with eating disorders will die within ten years of having the disease. ...
The methods used in this study focus on the subjects and their history, and the different measures of eating disorders and childhood violence victimization. The subjects that were used for this case-control study were women between 36-44 years of age who were participating in the Harvard Study of Moods and Cycles (a study previously done to test the connection between major depression and ovarian function among middle-aged women).
Within this previous study, the cases tested for this experiment were women who met the diagnostic criteria for anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, or binge eating disorder after being interviewed for the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th Edition (also referred to as DSM-IV).
To assess a history of childhood abuse, the researchers had the 907 women from this parent study to take a self-administered questionnaire titled the Survey of Interpersonal Relationships. Out of these 907 participants, 732 of the women (with and without eating disorders) completed the survey. The 732 women serve as the population for this study.
The three eating disorders mentioned constitute the study’s outcome. Anorexia falls under the refusal to maintain a certain body weight that is regular for age and height. Bulimia nervosa is defined as periodic occurrences of binge eating and is characterized by a lack of control. Lastly, binge eating disorder is similar to bulimia in that excessive eating is a problem but the difference is drawn because no purging is involved. Therefore, the women being studied were observed to possess the symptoms of either of these disorders. As for childhood abuse, the severity of abuse was measured and classified into three levels of mild, moderate, and severe. Mild was defined as being “spanked”, moderate was defined as “pushed, grabbed, shoved, kicked, bit, or punched” while severe was defined by being “choked or burned, physically attacked” (Rayworth et al).
The Term Paper on Eating Disorders 25
Eating Disorders This paper is about eating disorders, illness/condition, its characteristic features and likely causes. In this paper current treatments for eating disorders and services available in the northern territory will be described. Also I would like to discuss what the likely effect will be on the individual, family and friends. Eating is controlled by many factors, including appetite, ...
The researchers found that, in comparison to the women who did not report any abuse, that the woman who were victimized by childhood physical abuse had twice the likelihood of suffering “from subclinical eating disorder symptoms or meeting DSM-IV criteria for an eating disorder (odds ratio – 2.0; 95% confidence interval= 1.3-3.3 or for DSM-IV 2.1; 1.1-4.2)” (Rayworth et al).
However women that reported both physical and sexual abuse in their childhood were 3 times more likely of developing eating disorder symptoms and 4 times likely of falling under the DSM-IV criteria. The associations between the eating disorder and the abuse endured within the subgroup of women who had no previous depression to first start an eating disorder.
Through this study it is obvious that complexities exist in the connection between childhood abuse and the development of eating disorders. Childhood abuse has the power of influencing one’s psychological being and therefore could have the possibility of affecting the chances of an eating disorder. Abuse also is known to possibly have an affect on neurotransmitter functions and this too gives way to the likelihood of an eating disorder.
The possible problems to this study can be seen as there being bias in the subjects because the abuse was self-reported. Due to this, it’s not certain that their vision of the abuse and its severity was definite; thus the range of abuse was broad. When thinking about the limitations in this lab, I instinctively thought about my debate topic in class “Are repressed memories real?”. The dispute that real memories can be repressed or dissociated and later reliably recovered verse the extent to which false memories can be planted through suggestion was definitely present in this study. The patients could have easily had memories of abuse that were actually real or because they took a questionnaire insinuating possible abuse in their past, it could have instigated this victimization. Another potential problem is that the subjects were asked to remember as far back as 35 years and this could easily render their ability to truly remember the event or boost their willingness to repress it. Limitations can also be directed toward the type of abuse of the victims. Because most abuse occurs in family settings, it’s significant to note whether the abuse was emotional and how supportive the family members to it if it did occur. Factors like such would be considered important mediators to this study and to the association of childhood abuse and eating disorders. The sample of this study also wasn’t very big and this can therefore influence the reality of the result and how it pertains to the outer world.
The Term Paper on Eating Disorders People Weight Women
Hypothesis The media are inducing eating disorders by exhibiting pictures of 'stick like models. Personal Reasons for Research My own personal reason for choosing to research and find out about eating disorder is my ex-girlfriend suffered from bulimia, and I witnessed first hand how badly it affects the sufferer, and their loved ones. I would like to use this opportunity to find out how to help ...
There are future areas that should be explored in this study and additional studies could be made to follow up on the results of this experiment. Focusing on each eating disorder separately and its association with strictly one type of abuse (rather than the broad range observed in this study) could have specified the results. Creating a more diverse population, like women inhabiting different parts of the world would have been interesting to know how childhood abuse and their cultural environment links to eating disorders.
Regardless of the potential barriers, the study did help exemplify a better understanding of the relationship between childhood abuse and eating disorders in women. Women who did report childhood physical and sexual abuse were more likely than non-abused women to be afflicted with an eating disorder.
