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Sex role identity and anorexia nervosa
Author(s) -
Sitnick Toby,
Katz Jack L.
Publication year - 1984
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 - 10.1002/1098-108x(198421)3:3<81::aid-eat2260030308>3.0.co;2-x
Subject(s) - anorectic , anorexia nervosa , psychology , masculinity , femininity , bem sex role inventory , identity (music) , developmental psychology , eating disorders , clinical psychology , body weight , medicine , endocrinology , psychoanalysis , physics , acoustics
Much controversy surrounds the issue of sex role identity in anorexia nervosa. In this study 16 inpatient and 13 nonhospitalized anorectic women were compared with each other on the Bem Sex Role Inventory and with two non‐eating‐disordered control groups of women, one consisting of 16 undergraduate students and the other of 16 students pursuing graduate degrees in social work. No significant differences in scores were found between the two groups of anorectic subjects, and both control group scores also showed no significant differences. However, while femininity item scores were similar in all four groups, both groups of anorectic subjects scored significantly lower on the masculinity items than both control groups. No significant correlations were found in the anorectic subjects between masculinity item score and percentage of ideal body weight, duration of illness, or extent of education. An interpretation of anorexia nervosa as primarily a rejection or a caricature of the feminine role is challenged by this study. Rather, the results suggest that one characteristic of those women vulnerable to developing this syndrome may be a failure to develop adequately those “masculine” traits that are also necessary for optimal adult female functioning in contemporary society.