title: Extracting body image symptom dimensions among eating disorder patients: the Profile Analysis via Multidimensional Scaling (PAMS) approach.
abstract: The present study employs Profile Analysis via Multidimensional Scaling (PAMS), a procedure for extracting dimensions, in order to identify core eating disorder symptoms in a clinical sample. A large sample of patients with eating disorders (N=5193) presenting for treatment completed the Eating Disorders Inventory-2 (EDI-2; Garner, 1991), and PAMS was then employed to estimate individual profile weights that reflect the degree to which an individual's observed symptom profile approximates the pattern of the dimensions. The findings revealed three symptom dimensions: Body Thinness, Body Perfectionism, and Body Awareness. Subsequent analysis using individual level data illustrate that the PAMS profiles properly operate as prototypical profiles that encapsulate all individuals' response patterns. The implications of these dimensional findings for the assessment and diagnosis of eating disorders are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, United States. Electronic address: olubunmi.o.olatunji@vanderbilt.edu.
authors.forename: Bunmi O
authors.initials: BO
authors.lastname: Olatunji
authors.affiliation: Fordham University, Bronx, NY, United States.
authors.forename: Se-Kang
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Remuda Ranch Programs for Eating Disorders, Wickenburg, AZ, United States.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Wall
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001828:Body Image / Q000523:psychology*; D002648:Child; D001068:Feeding and Eating Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Body Awareness; Body Perfectionism; Body Thinness; Eating disorders; Multidimensional scaling; Profile analysis