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Personal Control and Disordered Eating Patterns Among College Females
Author(s) -
Watt Toni Terling,
Sharp Susan F.,
Atkins Leslie
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
journal of applied social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.822
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1559-1816
pISSN - 0021-9029
DOI - 10.1111/j.1559-1816.2002.tb02753.x
Subject(s) - attribution , psychology , control (management) , social psychology , assertion , eating disorders , sample (material) , disordered eating , perceived control , mental health , developmental psychology , clinical psychology , psychiatry , chemistry , management , chromatography , computer science , economics , programming language
Individuals deemed high in personal control tend to attribute life events to internal, rather than external causes. A lack of perceived personal control has been linked repeatedly to deficiencies in mental and physical health. Many scholars and practitioners have suggested that eating disorders are yet another problem stemming from a perceived lack of personal control. However, empirical research linking attributional tendencies and eating disorders is limited. In the present study, it is argued that eating disorders actually could be associated with a tendency to make internal attributions of responsibility for events. Using a sample of college females, this study offers preliminary support for this assertion. Results offer a unique challenge to the view of internal attributions as universally adaptive.