Binge eating severity, self-concept, dieting self-efficacy and social support during treatment of binge eating disorder

Objective: In treatment of binge eating measures of self-concept, eating se lf-efficacy, and social support were examined at 0, 6, and 18 months to det ermine if improvements in these variables were associated with reductions i n binge eating severity. Method: Obese adult females (N = 125) were treated for 6 months, with 12 months of maintenance meetings. The Binge Eating Sca le (BES), Tennessee Self-Concept Scale (TSC), Dieter's Inventory of Eating Temptations (DIET), and a social support measure (SocSup) were used. Result s: Over the first 6 months, improvements in BES were associated with improv ements in the TSC and DIET. Over 18 months, improvements in BES were associ ated with improvements in the TSC, DIET, and SocSup. Discussion: Therapy fo r binge eating should result in improvement in self-concept and eating self -efficacy, as well as reductions in binge eating. This study showed that se lf-concept and eating self-efficacy were associated with improvement in bin ge eating severity. The association with social support did not appear unti l long-term follow-up. Improvement in self-concept and eating self-efficacy may be processes leading to clinical improvement in this eating disorder, or they may result from changes in binge eating. (C) 1999 by John Wiley & S ons, Inc.