A history of sexual abuse in a sample of women with eating disorders
Date
1990
Authors
Lavell, Shannon Lea
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Abstract
This study examines the incidence of a traumatic or abusive sexual experience in the lives of persons with eating disorders. Twenty-three eating disorder support group participants and 49 reference group participants completed the Eating Disorder Inventory (EDI) and a Sexual History Questionnaire (SHQ). The reference group was divided into high scoring and low scoring groups. The results showed that 74% of the participants in the eating disorder support group had experienced a history of childhood sexual abuse and/or traumatic sexual events, while the low scoring reference group reported that 44% of the women participating had experienced a history of childhood sexual abuse (CSA) and/or traumatic sexual experiences (TSE). A chi-square analysis revealed significant association between eating disorders (eating disorder support group versus the low scoring reference group) and a history of CSA and /or TSE (p< .05). An ANOVA on the entire data set between No and Yes categories (No history of CSA and/or TSE, and Yes, a history of CSA and/or TSE). showed that the EDI subscales of Drive for Thinness, Ineffectiveness, and Interoceptive Awareness were statistically significant in distinguishing the Yes from the No participants.
In addition, ten professionals involved in the areas of eating disorders or sexual abuse were interviewed to determine their clinical impressions about the relationship between sexual abuse and eating disorders. Themes which emerged from their interviews indicated that eating disorders and sexual abuse often occurred together; and that low self-esteem and a poor body image often arise for eating disorder clients where there has been a history of sexual abuse. Eating disorders were viewed as the acting-out of a self-abusive pattern associated with early childhood trauma.
Conclusions and recommendations for future research and implications for counsellors working with eating disorders and sexual abuse are discussed. These implications include: failure of the DSM-1 11-R to guide clinicians in the spectrum of eating disordered behaviors and sociocultural variables, the value of an addiction framework in viewing treatment, and the importance of understanding the indicators of a history of sexual abuse and how they emerge.