Premium
A comparison of ever‐married and never‐married women with anorexia nervosa or bulimia nervosa
Author(s) -
Wiederman Michael W.,
Pryor Tamara
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
international journal of eating disorders
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.785
H-Index - 138
eISSN - 1098-108X
pISSN - 0276-3478
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1098-108x(199712)22:4<395::aid-eat4>3.0.co;2-h
Subject(s) - anorexia nervosa , bulimia nervosa , psychology , psychiatry , menarche , eating disorders , clinical psychology , medicine , endocrinology
Objective The results of the scant research on anorexia nervosa and marriage suggest that married anorexics may exhibit more severely disordered eating. However, past research has not controlled for the greater age of married versus unmarried anorexics, and very little research has been conducted on marriage and women with bulimia nervosa. We investigated differences in disordered eating and clinical traits between ever‐married and never‐married women with anorexia nervosa or bulimia nervosa and statistically controlled for age. Method: Adult women ages 20–45, who were assessed in an outpatient eating disorders clinic and diagnosed with anorexia nervosa (n = 91) or bulimia nervosa (n = 223), completed several measures of disordered eating and related traits at the point of initial evaluation. Results: In simple comparisons, ever‐married women differed from their never‐married peers with regard to several indices of symptom history and severity. However, after controlling for age, ever‐married women differed only with regard to an earlier onset of menarche and, for women with bulimia nervosa, an earlier onset of sexual intercourse. Discussion: Results are discussed with regard to possible explanation and directions for future research. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Eat Disord 22: 395–401, 1997.