Personality and family-environment predictors of self-reported eating attitudes and behaviors.
We assessed the contributions of personality and family environment to variations in self-reported eating attitudes and behaviors. Female college undergraduates (N = 137) completed the NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI; Costa & McCrae, 1985), Family Environment Scale (Moos & Moos, 1986), Eating Disorder Inventory (EDI; Garner & Olmsted, 1984), and revised Eating Attitudes Test (EAT-26; Garner, Olmsted, Bohr, & Garfinkel, 1982). Correlation and multiple regression analyses showed that among the personality variables, NEO-PI Neuroticism and Extraversion made the largest unique contributions to the EDI subscales and EAT-26. The family-environment measures made significant contributions to those, EDI subscales that are reflective of broader emotional and interpersonal problems, rather than eating disorders per se. Suppression effects were found for NEO-PI Extraversion and Neuroticism, underscoring the need for researchers to assess comprehensive sets of etiologic factors--and associations among them--to properly interpret complex predictor/criterion relationships.
Department of Psychology, Wittenberg University, Springfield, OH 45501.
J B
JB
Brookings
J F
JF
Wilson
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005120:Extraversion, Psychological; D005190:Family / Q000523:psychology*; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D001068:Feeding and Eating Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D009497:Neurotic Disorders / Q000523:psychology; D010551:Personality; D010555:Personality Inventory