A NATURALISTIC FUNCTIONAL-ANALYSIS OF BINGE-EATING

A naturalistic functional analysis of self-monitoring records was used to investigate the time of day, day of week, social context, physical context, hunger, and mood prior to eating as antecedent conditions to binge eating in binge eating disordered (BED) individuals, non-clinic al binge eaters (NCB), and normal control subjects (NRM). An analysis of reported binge episodes found that BED subjects reported 36.2% of t heir food intakes as binges, compared to 23.2% for NCB subjects, and 1 2.1% for NRM subjects. Important similarities as well as differences i n the overall eating and binging patterns of the three groups of subje cts were identified. The frequency and pattern of meals were very simi lar and hinging occurred primarily in the evening at supper or at late r snacks. All three groups also displayed a pattern of binge eating in response to negative emotions, with NRM subjects also binging in resp onse to positive emotions. Furthermore the abstinence violation effect was observed in all three groups.