Wesleyan University From the SelectedWorks of Ruth Striegel Weissman 1995 Psychological factors in the etiology of binge eating

Kumerou~ psychological factor\ have been hypothesiled to pla! a ~rolc in the etiology of binge eating. Thi$ chapter pl-opwes that fcmule gender--role socialiration put\ girls at risk for the development of binge eilting. Moreover. it i’r proposed that ;m understanding of risk require> an exploration of the developmental tabk\ of female adolscence. A\ Iresearch of the etiology of hinge eating in particular and eating disorders in general hegin\ to move away from te\ting single-factor cauwl model\ and toward te\ting complex. multifactorial models of cauwtion. research need\ to examine the p\)chological fiictor\ discu\wd in thi5 chapter. Recurrent binge eating represents a major health risk because it is associated with weight gain. obesity. and psychiatric distress. Research on the etiology of binge eating is still in an early stage. To date, efforts to understand the causal factors involved in the development of binge eating have focused on binge eating in the context of the clinical syndromes of anorexia nervosa (AN) and bulimia nervosa (BN). Research of binge eating has been accelerated in the wake of the recent proposal to recognize a new eating disorder, namely binge eating disorder (BED). as reflected in the fourth edition of the ZIitr,~,~o,vtic rl/rtl Sttr~i~fictrl iCfrr/l//trl c! f’ ~I~I~/rftrl Di.so/~l~~r.s (DSM-IV. APA. 1994). Epidemiologic studies of AN and BN have found very strong gender-related differences in the prevalence of these disorders. Among cases with AN or BN. women outnumber men by a factor of greater than IO (Fait-burn & Beglin. 1990: Hoek. 1993: Hoek et al. 1995). Gender-related differences ale less pr-onounced in preliminary studies of the prevalence of BED. where the ratio of female to male cases is approximately 3:2 (Smith. Marcus. & Eldredge. 1994). Nevertheless. gender-related differences in overall prevalence raise the question of why women appear to he at such disproportionate risk for developing an eating disorder. Another major and consistent finding of epidemiological studies is that binge eating has become more common over the past few decades. The widely acknowledged increase in eating disorders since the 1950s has been due to an increase in clinical syndromes in which binge eating plays a central role. such as BN and BED: in comparison. the prevalence of AN. restricting subtype. has remained relatively unchanged (Ash & Piazza, 1995; Kassett. Gwirtsman. Kaye. Brandt. & Jimerson. 198X: Kendler et al. 1991). This secular trend prompts the question of what has changed in Western cultures to contribute to this increase in the prevalence of binge eating. Studies of women with recurrent binge eating have found that this behavioral symptom typically begins during adolescence or early adulthood. With remarkable This chapter represents an abridged version of my chapter in Fairburn ;md Wilwn (Ed\. ). Hiugc,-htirrA (Guilford. 1993). modified with permission of the publisher. Requests for reprints should be sent to Ruth Striegel-Moore. Ph.D. Depal-tment of I’\ycholog? We\leyan University. Middletown. CT 06459.