Disordered eating behaviors and attitudes and their correlates among a community sample of older women

Katherine A Thompson; Anna M Bardone-Cone

doi:10.1016/j.eatbeh.2019.05.004

Disordered eating behaviors and attitudes and their correlates among a community sample of older women

Eat Behav. 2019 Aug:34:101301. doi: 10.1016/j.eatbeh.2019.05.004. Epub 2019 May 11.

Authors

Katherine A Thompson¹, Anna M Bardone-Cone²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, USA.
² Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, USA. Electronic address: bardonecone@unc.edu.

PMID: 31153025
DOI: 10.1016/j.eatbeh.2019.05.004

Abstract

This study provided a descriptive report of disordered eating behaviors and attitudes among older women and evaluated correlates (maladaptive perfectionism, appearance-related criticism). Participants were 97 women, ages 65-90, who completed questionnaires. Per the Eating Attitudes Test - 26, approximately 6% of participants met clinical cut-offs for a likely eating disorder. Maladaptive perfectionism was significantly correlated with an array of disordered eating attitudes as well as bulimic symptoms, but appearance-related criticism from significant others was not significantly correlated with disordered eating behaviors or attitudes. Results suggest that disordered eating behaviors and attitudes exist among older women with both similarities and differences in correlates compared to young women.

Keywords: Appearance-related criticism; Body dissatisfaction; Disordered eating; Older women; Perfectionism.

MeSH terms

Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Attitude
Body Image / psychology*
Feeding Behavior / psychology*
Feeding and Eating Disorders / epidemiology*
Female
Humans
Perfectionism*
Surveys and Questionnaires