Eating disorders and borderline personality disorder involve several overlapping
features, such as impulsivity, negative affectivity, and dissociation. However, few
studies have specifically assessed how eating pathology and borderline personality may
be related. The present study sought to evaluate this relationship by focusing on one
particular area of overlap, negative affectivity. A pilot study assessed the psychometric
properties of a dietary restraint measure among undergraduate women (N = 149). In the
main study, undergraduate women (N = 307) completed a baseline mood assessment,
then viewed a 39-minute sad film either with or without concurrent food presentation.
Participants then completed a second mood assessment, and those who received food
completed a third mood assessment following a 10-minute post-reflection delay. Results
suggest that women reporting more borderline features exhibited greater negative affect
across three different time points (baseline, post-movie/food, and post-reflection period),
and were more reactive to the sad film. Food presentation appeared to have a small
tempering effect on sadness, such that individuals who received food reported relatively less sadness after viewing the film when compared to those who did not receive food.
However, actual quantity of food consumption was associated with improvements in
mood only for women reporting higher levels of borderline features. Finally, highscorers
on dietary restraint measures consumed greater quantities of food than their lowscoring
counterparts. In sum, these data suggest that women with borderline personality
features may be at elevated risk for developing problems with binge-eating, as
consuming larger quantities of food appeared to have a tempering effect on their
negative mood and specific feelings of sadness. Further, results are consistent with
earlier findings in that reported efforts to restrain dietary intake were associated with
greater food consumption in response to negative affect, and this relationship may need
to be addressed in treating individuals with problematic eating behaviors.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:tamu.edu/oai:repository.tamu.edu:1969.1/ETD-TAMU-3050 |
| Date | 15 May 2009 |
| Creators | Ambwani, Suman |
| Contributors | Morey, Leslie C. |
| Source Sets | Texas A and M University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Book, Thesis, Electronic Dissertation, text |
| Format | electronic, application/pdf, born digital |
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