title: Personality characteristics of women before and after recovery from an eating disorder.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Previous studies of personality characteristics in women with eating disorders primarily have focused on women who are acutely ill. This study compares personality characteristics among women who are ill with eating disorders, recovered from eating disorders, and those without eating or other Axis I disorder pathology.
  
  
  METHODS
  Female participants were assessed for personality characteristics using the Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI): 122 with anorexia nervosa (AN; 77 ill, 45 recovered), 279 with bulimia nervosa (BN; 194 ill, 85 recovered), 267 with lifetime histories of both anorexia and bulimia nervosa (AN + BN; 194 ill, 73 recovered), 63 with eating disorder not otherwise specified (EDNOS; 31 ill, 32 recovered), and 507 without eating or Axis I disorder pathology.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Women ill with all types of eating disorders exhibited several TCI score differences from control women, particularly in the areas of novelty-seeking, harm avoidance, self-directedness, and cooperativeness. Interestingly, women recovered from eating disorders reported higher levels of harm avoidance and lower self-directedness and cooperativeness scores than did normal control women.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Women with eating disorders in both the ill and recovered state show higher levels of harm avoidance and lower self-directedness and cooperativeness scores than normal control women. Although findings suggest that disturbances may be trait-related and contribute to the disorders' pathogenesis, additional research with more representative community controls, rather than our pre-screened, normal controls, is needed to confirm these impressions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824-1116, USA. klump@msu.edu
authors.forename: Kelly L
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Klump
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Strober
authors.forename: Cynthia M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Bulik
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Thornton
authors.forename: Craig
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Johnson
authors.forename: Bernie
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Devlin
authors.forename: Manfred M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Fichter
authors.forename: Katherine A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Halmi
authors.forename: Allan S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Kaplan
authors.forename: D Blake
authors.initials: DB
authors.lastname: Woodside
authors.forename: Scott
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Crow
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mitchell
authors.forename: Alessandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rotondo
authors.forename: Pamela K
authors.initials: PK
authors.lastname: Keel
authors.forename: Wade H
authors.initials: WH
authors.lastname: Berrettini
authors.forename: Katherine
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Plotnicov
authors.forename: Christine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Pollice
authors.forename: Lisa R
authors.initials: LR
authors.lastname: Lilenfeld
authors.forename: Walter H
authors.initials: WH
authors.lastname: Kaye
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000856:Anorexia Nervosa / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy; D002032:Bulimia / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005106:Exploratory Behavior; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D010551:Personality; D010555:Personality Inventory; D016728:Self-Injurious Behavior; D016896:Treatment Outcome