Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-x5gtn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-30T20:40:02.162Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Eating Attitudes and Neurotic Symptoms in University Students

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 June 2018

Summary

A postal survey of male and female university students is reported, using the Eating Attitude Test (EAT) and the Crown Crisp Experiential Index (CCEI). Eleven per cent of the 156 female respondents but none of 120 males scored above 30 on the EAT, thereby declaring eating attitudes comparable to anorexic subjects. Of those interviewed, none fulfilled diagnostic criteria for anorexia nervosa, but half showed eating disorder of clinical severity. There was a clear association between high EAT scores and higher scores on all the subscales of the CCEI except the phobic scale. The results are discussed in relation to ideas about the possible origins of clinical eating disorders.

Type
Papers
Copyright
Copyright © 1983 The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

American Psychiatric Association (1980) DSM-III Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (Third Edition). Washington D. C.Google Scholar
Boskind-Lodahl, M. (1976) Cinderella’s stepsisters: a feminist perspective on anorexia nervosa and bulimia Signs; Journal of Women in Culture and Society, 2, 342–56.Google Scholar
Button, E. J. & Whitehouse, A. (1981) Subclinical anorexia nervosa. Psychological Medicine, 11, 509–15Google Scholar
Crown, S. & Crisp, A. H. (1966) A short clinical diagnostic self rating scale for psychoneurotic patients. British Journal of Psychiatry, 112, 917–23.Google Scholar
Crown, S. & Crisp, A. H. (1979) Manual of the Crown-Crisp Experiential Index. London: Hodder and Stoughton.Google Scholar
Garner, D. M. & Garfinkel, P. E. (1979) The Eating Attitudes Test: an index of the symptoms of anorexia nervosa. Psychological Medicine, 9, 273–9.Google Scholar
Garner, D. M. & Garfinkel, P. E. (1980) Socio-cultural factors in the development of anorexia nervosa. Psychological Medicine, 10, 647–56.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Halmi, K. A., Falk, J. R. & Schwartz, E. (1981) Binge eating and vomiting: a survey of a college population. Psychological Medicine, 11, 697706.Google Scholar
Herman, C. B. & Mack, D. (1975) Restrained and unrestrained eating. Journal of Personality, 43, 647–60.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hsu, L. K. G. & Crisp, A. H. (1980) The Crown Crisp Experiential Index (CCEI) Profile in anorexia nervosa. British Journal of Psychiatry, 136, 567–73.Google Scholar
Nisbett, R. E. (1972) Hunger, obesity and the ventromedial hypothalamus. Psychological Review, 79, 433–53.Google Scholar
Palmer, R. L. (1979) The dietary chaos syndrome: a useful new term? British Journal of Medical Psychology, 52, 187–90.Google Scholar
Russell, G. F. M. (1979) Bulimia nervosa: an ominous variant of anorexia nervosa. Psychological Medicine, 9, 429–48.Google Scholar
Society of Actuaries (1959) Build and Blood Pressure Study.Google Scholar
Wardle, J. (1980) Dietary restraint and binge eating. Behavioural Analysis and Modification, 4, 201–9.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.