Perceived-competence deficit in anorexia nervosa.
Anorexia nervosa patients are portrayed as competent and accomplished and yet they feel ineffective and diffident. The assessment of this aspect of their self-esteem presents methodological problems. The Interests and Abilities Questionnaire was designed to measure interests and perceived abilities in typical adolescent activities. The disparity between interests and perceived abilities--perceived-competence deficit (PCD)--was hypothesized to be characteristic of anorexics. Three groups of females, aged 14 to 24, were studied: 13 anorexic inpatients, 13 psychiatric inpatients without an eating disorder but of similar severity of illness, and 48 nonclinical subjects. Similar to the nonclinical controls, anorexics were interested in a variety of activities; similar to control patients, anorexics rated their abilities lower than nonclinical subjects. In PCD, anorexics scored significantly higher than both control groups; this difference was not related to level of depression.
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Yale University Health Services, Division of Mental Hygiene, New Haven, Connecticut 06520.
Quinlan
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D000124:Achievement; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000856:Anorexia Nervosa / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D001076:Aptitude; D005260:Female; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D007389:Internal-External Control; D012649:Self Concept