Df. Meyer et Rk. Russell, CARETAKING, SEPARATION FROM PARENTS, AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF EATING DISORDERS, Journal of counseling and development, 76(2), 1998, pp. 166-173
The authors investigated the relationship between the cognitive and be
havioral indicators of eating disorders and characteristics of codepen
dency, including exaggerated caretaking and constricted emotion. In ad
dition, the role of family environment was investigated through an ass
essment oi separation from parents. College women who displayed more c
odependent characteristics evidenced higher levels of eating disordere
d behavior and conflictual separation from parents. The findings sugge
st that codependency may serve as an additional variable in the relati
onship between eating disorders and separation/individuation difficult
ies. Implications for counseling with college women are discussed.