In Part 1 of this thesis the interaction of personality variables in predicting risk of disordered eating is examined. Shyness and an interaction between neuroticism and introversion were found to increase risk of disordered eating in independent university samples. These findings highlight a potential genetic susceptibility to eating pathology by demonstrating similar personality vulnerabilities in clinical eating disorders, as in nonclinical disordered eating. However, the implications and generalizations that can be drawn from these first two studies are limited by the equivocal relationship between disordered eating and eating disorders.
Part 2 of the thesis examines the continuum theory of eating disorders. A theoretical hypothesis is introduced and offers a framework for thinking of thoughts separate from behaviours. Through a review ofexisting literature, it is noted that eating disorder thoughts are far more prevalent than the behaviours, and while the thoughts can occur independent of the behaviours, behaviours are necessarily tied to pathological thoughts. Preliminary empirical support for this hypothesis is presented by modeling eating disorder thoughts and behaviours as distinct latent constructs in a confirmatory factor analysis using data from a large sample of university females. Frequency analyses of eating disorder thoughts and behaviours offered support for the argument that eating disorder symptoms are not normally distributed across non-clinical settings. As predicted, thoughts occurred independent of the behaviours, and behaviours occurred only in conjunction with thoughts. The interaction of eating disorder thoughts with eating disorder behaviours provided the most robust predictor of psychopathology, although the relative contribution of thoughts and behaviours to psychopathology was not equivalent. These results were replicated in a national epidemiological sample offemales ages 15 to 34 years, and the findings were consistent with results from the university sample. Behaviours were more consistently associated with psychopathology in both the university sample and the national sample. The contribution of this thesis to the field of epidemiological research in eating disorders is through the recommendation that screening instruments use behaviours to identify cases and a high threshold of thoughts in risk assessment. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:mcmaster.ca/oai:macsphere.mcmaster.ca:11375/16635 |
| Date | 06 1900 |
| Creators | Miller, Jessie Lyn |
| Contributors | Vaillancourt, Tracy, Psychology |
| Source Sets | McMaster University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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