BULIMIA AND THE DIFFUSION STATUS OF EGO IDENTITY FORMATION - SIMILARITIES OF THE EMPIRICAL DESCRIPTORS OF SELF AND PARENT

A comparison was made between the empirical literature describing the characteristics of bulimic adolescents and the empirical literature de scribing adolescents in the various identity statuses within Erikson/M arcia's stage/status theory. A pattern of similarities emerged. Bulimi cs and diffused persons have been described as having personal charact eristics and familial descriptors which are similar. No comparable sim ilarities were found for the other well researched transitional status es, that is, moratorium, foreclosure, or achievement. Present theories of bulimia suggest that a disruption in the second individuation occu rs. However, none have attempted to operationalize the disruption in t he adolescent individuation in terms of the transitional status. The c omparison of two empirical literatures leads to a number of testable h ypotheses that may advance the understanding of bulimia. (C) 1996 The Association for Professionals in Services for Adolescents