Abstract
Although much has been written with regards to the interpersonal functioning of eating-disordered women, research in the domain of eating disorders (ED) has still overlooked the complex relationships between stressful life events, coping styles, social and marital support while considering the ED spectrum. OBJECTIVE: This study evaluates to what extent stressful life events, coping styles, and social support represent useful concepts for differentiating between four groups of participants with varying severity of eating preoccupations and disturbances. METHOD: One hundred twenty-five participants were divided into four groups: 40 women suffering from ED, 21 women in remission from an ED, 33 women with intense weight and shape preoccupations, and 31 women without eating preoccupations. Each participant completed the Eating Disorder Evaluation, as well as questionnaires concerning stressful life events, coping styles, social support, and couple satisfaction. RESULTS: There were significant differences between the groups in terms of negative impact of stressful events, social support, as well as task-oriented and emotion-oriented coping styles. Significant differences were not found between the groups for couple satisfaction. CONCLUSION: It appears that accurate cognitive appraisal of stressful situations, adaptive coping styles and improvement of the social network represent interesting dimensions to include in prevention and treatment programs for ED. Moreover, for women in remission from an ED, an effective relapse prevention strategy could be to learn to make better use of their social network.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Soukup V.M., Beiler M.E., Terrell F.: Stress, coping style and problem solving ability among eating disordered inpatients. J. Clin. Psychol., 46, 593–599, 1990.
Strober M.: Stressful life events associated with bulimia in anorexia nervosa. Int. J. Eat. Disord., 3, 3–16, 1984.
Troop N.A., Holbrey A., Treasure J.L.: Stress, coping, and crisis support in eating disorders. Int. J. Eat. Disord., 24, 157–166, 1998.
Yager J., Rorty M., Rossotto E.: Coping styles differ between recovered and nonrecovered women with bulimia nervosa, but not between recovered women and non-eating disordered control subjects. J. Nerv. Ment. Dis., 183, 86–94, 1995.
Steiger H., Gauvin L., Jabalpurwala S., Séguin J.R., Stotland S.: Hypersensitivity to social interactions in bulimic syndromes: Relationship to binge eating. J. Consult. Clin. Psychol., 67, 765–775, 1999.
Neckowitz P., Morrison T.L.: Interactional coping strategies of normal-weight bulimic women in intimate and non-intimate stressful situations. Psychol. Rep., 69, 1167–1175, 1991.
Raffi A.R., Rondini M., Grandi S., Fava G.A.: Life events and prodromal symptoms in bulimia nervosa. Psychol. Med., 30, 727–731, 2000.
Troop N.A., Holbrey A., Trowler R., Treasure J.L.: Ways of coping in women with eating disorders. J. Nerv. Ment. Dis., 182, 535–540, 1994.
Denisoff E., Endler N.S.: Life experiences, coping, and weight preoccupation in young adult women. Can. J. Behav. Sci., 32, 97–103, 2000.
Nagata T., Matsuyama M., Kiriike N., Iketani T., Oshima J.: Stress coping strategy in Japanese patients with eating disorders. J. Nerv. Ment. Dis., 188, 280–286, 2000.
Bennett D.A., Cooper C.L.: Eating disturbance as a manifestation of the stress process: A review of the literature. Stress Medicine, 15, 167–182, 1999.
Tiller J.M., Sloane G., Schmidt U., Troop N., Power M., Treasure J.L.: Social support in patients with anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. Int. J. Eat. Disord., 21, 31–38, 1997.
Van den Broucke S., Vandereycken W., Norré J.: Eating disorders and marital relationships. London, Routledge, 1997.
Van den Broucke S., Vandereycken W., Vertommen H.: Marital intimacy in patients with an eating disorder: A controlled self-report study. Br. J. Clin. Psychol., 34, 67–78, 1995.
Woodside D.B., Brandes J.S., Lackstrom J.B., ShekterWolfson L.: The eating disordered couple. In: Carlson J., Sperry L. (Eds.), The disordered couple. Pennsylvania, Brunner/Mazel, 1998, pp. 139–161.
Root M.P.P.: Conceptualization and treatment of eating disorders in couples. In: Jacobson N.S., Gurman A.S. (Eds.), Clinical handbook of couple therapy. New York, Guilford Press, 1995, pp. 437–470.
Woodside D.B., Shekter-Wolfson L., Brandes J.S., Lackstrom J.B.: Eating disorders and marriage: The couple in focus. New York, Brunner/Mazel, 1993.
Garner D.M., Olmsted M.P., Polivy J.: Development and validation of a multidimensional Eating Disorder Inventory for anorexia nervosa and bulimia. Int. J. Eat. Disord., 2, 15–24, 1983.
Garner D.M., Olmsted M.P., Polivy J.: Eating Disorder Inventory Manual. Lutz, Psychological Assessment Resources, 1984.
Tylka T.L., Subich L.M.: Exploring the construct validity of the eating disorder continuum. J. Couns. Psychol., 46, 157–166, 1999.
Fairburn C.G., Cooper Z.: The Eating Disorder Examination, 12th ed.. In: Fairburn C.G., Wilson G.T. (Eds.), Binge eating: Nature, assessment, and treatment. New York, Guilford Press, 1993, pp. 317–360.
Cooper Z., Cooper P., Fairburn C.G.: The validity of the Eating Disorder Examination and its subscales. Br. J. Psychiatry, 154, 807–812, 1989.
Rosen J.C., Vara L., Wendt S., Leitenberg H.: Validity studies of the Eating Disorder Examination. Int. J. Eat. Disord., 9, 519–528, 1990.
Wilson G.T., Smith D.: Assessment of bulimia nervosa: An evaluation of the Eating Disorder Examination. Int. J. Eat. Disord., 8, 173–179, 1989.
Lussier Y., Sabourin S., Turgeon C.: Coping strategies as moderators of the relationship between attachment and marital adjustment. J. Soc. Pers. Relat., 14, 777–791, 1997.
Endler N.S., Parker J.D.A.: Multidimensional assessment of coping: A critical evaluation. J. Pers. Soc. Psychol., 58, 844–854, 1990.
Endler N.S., Parker J.D.A., Butcher J.N.: A factor analytic study of coping styles and the MMPI-2 content scales. J. Clin. Psychol., 49, 523–527, 1993.
Parker J.D.A, Endler N.S.: Coping with coping assessment: A critical review. Eur. J. Person., 6, 32–344, 1992.
Bellerose C., Lavallée C., Chénard L., Levasseur M.: Santé Québec: Et la santé, ça va en 1992–1993?. Gouvernement du Québec, 1995.
Spanier G.B.: Measuring dyadic adjustment: New scales for assessing the quality of marriage and similar dyads. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 38, 15–28, 1976.
Baillargeon J., Dubois G., Marineau R.: Traduction française de l’Échelle d’Ajustement Dyadique. Revue Canadienne des Sciences du Comportement, 18, 24–34, 1986.
Sabourin S., Lussier Y., Laplante B., Wright J.: Unidimensional and multidimensional models of dyadic adjustment: A hierarchical reconciliation. Psychol. Assess., 2, 333–337, 1990.
Spanier G.B., Thompson L.: A confirmatory analysis of the Dyadic Adjustment Scale. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 46, 15–28, 1982
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Aimé, A., Sabourin, S. & Ratté, C. The eating disturbed spectrum in relation with coping and interpersonal functioning. Eat Weight Disord 11, 66–72 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03327753
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03327753