THE RELATIONSHIP OF OBESITY TO BORDERLINE PERSONALITY SYMPTOMATOLOGY,SELF-HARM BEHAVIORS, AND SEXUAL ABUSE IN FEMALE SUBJECTS IN A PRIMARY-CARE MEDICAL SETTING
Ra. Sansone et al., THE RELATIONSHIP OF OBESITY TO BORDERLINE PERSONALITY SYMPTOMATOLOGY,SELF-HARM BEHAVIORS, AND SEXUAL ABUSE IN FEMALE SUBJECTS IN A PRIMARY-CARE MEDICAL SETTING, Journal of personality disorders, 9(3), 1995, pp. 254-265
Two groups of females in a primary-care medical setting were assessed:
those 50 pounds or more overweight presenting for any medical service
(n = 61) and normal-weight women presenting for PAP smears (n = 89).
Subjects completed a weight history, sexual abuse questionnaire, self-
harm behavior questionnaire, and the Borderline Personality Subscale o
f the Personality Diagnostic Questionnaire-Revised (PDQ-R), Obese subj
ects were also administered the Diagnostic Interview for Borderlines (
DIB). The prevalence of borderline symptomatology in obese subjects wa
s 7% on the DIB and 25% on the PDQR. For the entire sample (N = 194),
subjects' highest weight ever and current weight were significantly po
sitively correlated with a history of sexual abuse, endorsements of se
lected self-harm behaviors, and PDQ-R borderline scores.