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Three alternative causal hypotheses have been proposed concerning the relationship between mood and eating disturbances: (1) mood disturbances in eating disorders are consequences of eating abnormalities; (2) eating abnormalities are consequences of underlying mood disturbances; (3) mood and eating disturbances are not causally related but are both effects of some other set of common causes or ‘third variables.’ The present study used a cross-lagged panel design to examine these competing causal hypotheses concerning mood and eating symptoms in a nonclinical population. High-school girls, 543, ranging in age from 13 to 17, were tested twice (across a 6-month interval) for depressive symptoms and eating abnormalities. Autocorrelations indicated that mood and eating disturbances were quite stable over the 6-month period (.71 for mood and .72 for eating). Synchronous correlations revealed a moderate but stable association between mood and eating disturbances (.41 for Time 1 and .42 for Time 2). Comparison of cross-lagged correlations from mood to eating pathology (.34) and from eating to mood disturbances (.35), however, indicated no predominant causal sequence between these two variables. Implications of these findings were discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presence of DSM-III-R personality disorders was examined in 67 women with eating disorders (anorexic restricters, anorexic bingers, and bulimics with or without a prior history of anorexia nervosa) and in 25 noneating-disordered women. Additional measures of family functioning were available in 55 of the eating disorders (EDs) and 24 controls. Personality and family disturbances (as measured by the Personality Diagnostic Questionnaire-Revised and the Family Assessment Device) were prevalent among the EDs, but ‘restricter/binger’ differences were not indicated on either measure. Hence results did not support a ‘restricter/binger dichotomy’ concept. They also questioned the degree to which personality problems in ED patients may be consequences of eating disturbances, since severity of personality disorder, while related to reported family dysfunction, was unrelated to severity of eating symptoms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fifty-eight women with anorexia or bulimia nervosa were compared with 24 normal women on measures of defense style and parental bonding. Results indicated that all eating-disorder subtypes exhibit more primitive defenses and fewer mature ones than controls. Eating-disorder patients uniformly recalled /ess paternal em pa- thy than controls. Thus, difficulties involving object representations of fathers may be a theme common to eating disorders. No major differences were identified among eating-disorder subtypes, suggesting that these disorders share substantial psychodynamic features. Patterns of parental bonding were associated with defense styles in a manner consistent with theories that link defense style development to early object relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]