A comparison of ever-married and never-married women with anorexia nervosa or bulimia nervosa.
OBJECTIVE
The results of the scant research on anorexia nervosa and marriage suggest that married anorexics may exhibit more severely disordered eating. However, past research has not controlled for the greater age of married versus unmarried anorexics, and very little research has been conducted on marriage and women with bulimia nervosa. We investigated differences in disordered eating and clinical traits between ever-married and never-married women with anorexia nervosa or bulimia nervosa and statistically controlled for age.


METHODS
Adult women ages 20-45, who were assessed in an outpatient eating disorders clinic and diagnosed with anorexia nervosa (n = 91) or bulimia nervosa (n = 223), completed several measures of disordered eating and related traits at the point of initial evaluation.


RESULTS
In simple comparisons, ever-married women differed from their never-married peers with regard to several indices of symptom history and severity. However, after controlling for age, ever-married women differed only with regard to an earlier onset of menarche and, for women with bulimia nervosa, an earlier onset of sexual intercourse.


CONCLUSIONS
Results are discussed with regard to possible explanation and directions for future research.
Wiederman
M W
MW
Department of Psychological Science, Ball State University, Muncie, IN 47306-0520, USA.
Pryor
T
T
D000328:Adult; D000856:Anorexia Nervosa / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D002032:Bulimia / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D017533:Marital Status; D010555:Personality Inventory; D012307:Risk Factors; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology