The Body Image in Bulimia (Eating Disorders).

Abstract

The present study explored differences between bulimic and non-bulimic adolescent women on various body image dimensions. The different body image dimensions operationalized in the study were body satisfaction, body boundary definiteness, and body awareness. In addition, differences between bulimic and non-bulimic women in degree of separation from parents, family dynamics, parental attitudes toward the body, and anger were also explored. Subjects for the study were undergraduate women recruited from an introductory psychology subject pool. Selection of bulimic and non-bulimic subjects occurred through the use of a prescreening questionnaire that assessed eating attitudes and behavior. From an initial pool of 872 women, 41 bulimic and 25 non-bulimic women were selected for participation in the study. Bulimic subjects were further divided into purging and non-purging subgroups. Bulimic women evidenced greater disturbance on all body image dimensions employed. Controlling for weight, bulimic women were found to be less satisfied with their bodies and appearance than non-bulimic women. Bulimic women were also found to experience their bodies as less definite and more easily penetrated than non-bulimic women. In addition, bulimic women evidence greater distortions concerning their bodies and body processes. Bulimic women were found to differ from non-bulimic women on many of the other variables employed. Specifically, bulimic women were more dependent on their mothers, experienced their mothers as more overinvolved with their bodies, and evidenced more anger than non-bulimic women. No differences between bulimic and non-bulimic women were found on measures of family cohesion or family adaptability. Assessment of bulimic subgroup differences revealed that purging bulimics were less satisfied with their bodies, experienced their bodies as less firm and more easily penetrated, and evidenced more anger than non-purging bulimics. The results indicate that greater body image disturbance underlies the manifestation of more extreme bulimic symptoms. In addition, the results support an object relations position on bulimia.