The central question of this study was to examine the moral orientation
and the role of self in subject generated moral dilemmas for information on
the developmental and cultural forces contributing to the etiology and
maintenance of eating disorders in college women. The research was based
on the theories of Carol Gilligan (1982, 1988, 1990).
Twelve women identified as bulimic by therapists and twelve women
with no eating disorder were administered the BULIT-R and the moral
conflict and choice interview. A Guide to Reading Narratives of Moral Conflict
and Choice for Self and Moral Voice provided the framework for analyzing
the the interviews.
Using Chi squares to analyze the data, no significant differences were
found between the two groups on presence, predominance, and alignment
of the moral voices of care and justice or on relationship framework, although
a trend toward the bulimic sample aligning both with the justice and care
orientations was noted. The bulimic sample expressed one or more of the
vulnerabilities of care and both care and justice significantly more often than
the comparison sample. No difference was found for expression of self care,
though the quality of self care expressed was different. Subjects from the
bulimic sample mentioned self care in conjunction with self-preservation,
while subjects in the comparison group mentioned self-care as an ordinary
consideration in conflicts. A significant difference was found between the two
groups on mention of a problematic relationship with father, with bulimics
describing an emotionally distant relationship with father more often. Finally,
the quality of the conflicts described by bulimics tended to be more critical to
self than those described by the comparison sample.
Results were related to what Gilligan (1990) calls the biggest
challenge of the adolescent female: how to integrate inclusion of self with
inclusion of others. Disturbances in relationships within the family resulted in
the women from the bulimic sample having difficulty with this task. Two
coping styles were identified: role reversal and hostile avoidant (Salzman,
1990). The relevance of these coping styles to bulimia was discussed.
Implications for therapy were reviewed and recommendations were
made for future research. / Graduation date: 1992
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ORGSU/oai:ir.library.oregonstate.edu:1957/36340 |
| Date | 26 November 1991 |
| Creators | Wiggum, Candice Diehl |
| Contributors | Sisson, Carol |
| Source Sets | Oregon State University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation |
Page generated in 0.0019 seconds