Sexual Abuse and Eating Disorders

Sexual Abuse and Eating Disorders

The possible relationship between sexual abuse and the development of an eating disorder has gained attention over the last few years. Researchers have attempted to clarify this potential link using a variety of population samples and research methodologies. As will be shown, the results of these investigations are rather diverse and sometimes inconclusive. In the following review of the literature, the complex relationship between sexual abuse and eating disorders will be examined while also discussing the methodological limitations of the various designs.

Anorexic Samples

Steiger and Zanko (1990) compared rates of incestuous abuses (sexual contacts with family members) and extrafamilial abuses (sexual traumata involving other perpetrators) among eating disordered women who met DSM-III-R (American Psychiatric Association, 1987) criteria, women with psychiatric disturbances, and normal women. The authors’ interest in the psychological effects of abuse led them to examine psychological defenses which are believed to filter perceptions and affects. Defenses were of interest to the authors for two reasons: (1) incest victims often resort to maladaptive defenses with a self-victimizing quality, in which anger at others is expressed through self-sabotaging acts; and (2) the authors’ previous work suggests that eating disordered women use primitive defenses when compared to normal and psychiatrically disturbed women. This particular study was designed to determine the degree to which traumata like sexual abuse might have effects upon defense-style development.

In order to compare rates across eating disorder subtypes, the eating disordered women were divided into the following groups: (1) ...

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