title: Childhood trauma in obese and overweight women with food addiction and clinical-level of binge eating.
abstract: Childhood trauma (CT) is considered a major risk factor for several disorders as well as for the development of eating psychopathology and adult obesity. The main aims of the present study were to assess in overweight and obese women: (i) the independent association between CT and food addiction (FA), and (ii) CT in patients with both FA and clinical-level of binge eating (BE), versus patients who only engage in FA or BE. Participants were 301 overweight and obese women seeking low-energy-diet therapy. All of the patients were administered self-report measures investigating FA, BE, CT, anxiety and depressive symptoms. CT severity was moderately and positively associated with both FA (r=0.37; p<0.001) and BE (r=0.36; p<0.001) severity. The association between FA and CT remained significant after controlling for potential confounding variables. Furthermore, compared to patients without dysfunctional eating patterns, the co-occurrence of FA and BE was associated with more severe CT as well as with more severe psychopathology (i.e., anxiety and depressive symptoms) and higher BMI. Our results suggest that clinicians should carefully assess the presence of CT in individuals who report dysfunctional eating patterns in order to develop treatment approaches specifically for obese and overweight patients with a history of CT.
authors.affiliation: Università Europea di Roma, Rome, Italy. Electronic address: imperatori.c@libero.it.
authors.forename: Claudio
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Imperatori
authors.affiliation: Università Europea di Roma, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Innamorati
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA.
authors.forename: Dorian A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Lamis
authors.affiliation: Università Europea di Roma, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Benedetto
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Farina
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosciences, Mental Health and Sensory Organs, Suicide Prevention Center, Sant'Andrea Hospital, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Maurizio
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pompili
authors.affiliation: Università Europea di Roma, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Contardi
authors.affiliation: Università Europea di Roma, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Mariantonietta
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fabbricatore
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D054523:Adult Survivors of Child Abuse / Q000523:psychology; D000368:Aged; D001007:Anxiety / Q000209:etiology; D056912:Binge-Eating Disorder / Q000209:etiology; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002032:Bulimia / Q000209:etiology; D002649:Child Abuse / Q000523:psychology*; D003863:Depression / Q000209:etiology; D004435:Eating / Q000523:psychology; D005247:Feeding Behavior / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D000073932:Food Addiction / Q000209:etiology*; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009765:Obesity / Q000178:diet therapy / Q000209:etiology; D050177:Overweight / Q000178:diet therapy / Q000209:etiology*; D057566:Self Report; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Binge eating severity; Childhood trauma; Food addiction; Obesity; Overweight