Ne. Sherwood et al., The perceived function of eating for bulimic, subclinical bulimic, and non-eating disordered women, BEHAV THER, 31(4), 2001, pp. 777-793
This study investigated the perceived function of eating for women with bul
imia nervosa (BN) and subclinical (SC) BN. Although previous studies sugges
t that, independent of eating, BNs report using food as a way of coping, re
search has not assessed eating as a coping response in the naturalistic set
ting. Two hypotheses regarding the perceived function of eating were tested
, an avoidant coping and a self-nurturance hypothesis. For 1 week, 20 women
with BN, 32 women with subclinical BN, and 28 non-eating disordered women
completed food diaries assessing the occurrence and severity of negative ev
ents, the use of self-nurturance and avoidance coping, and positive and neg
ative affect before and after eating. Results suggest that women with BN we
re more likely to report the occurrence of negative events before eating ep
isodes compared to SCs and controls. BNs were also more likely to report th
e use of food as an avoidance coping mechanism compared to SCs and controls
. The affect analyses suggest that eating is associated with an increase in
negative emotions for BNs. Taken together, the results suggest that eating
for women with BN may be viewed as an avoidant coping response. This attem
pt by women with BN to cope, however, appears to be maladaptive in that it
perpetuates their high level of distress.