Eating disorders (ED) represent a major health problem that afflicts up to 8% of women in the U.S. Although deviations in the self-concept are widely viewed as important determinants of the dysregulated eating behaviors, little theoretically derived and empirically validated knowledge is available to explain the linkage. This project is based on the schema approach to the study of the self-concept. A model that suggests that anorexia nervosa (AN) and bulimia nervosa (BN) are the result of a unique combination of self-concept deviations is tested. More specifically, the model posits that the availability in memory of an overweight body self-conception serves as the cognitive foundation that gives rise to weight concerns and dysregulated eating behaviors. In addition, an impoverished and highly unified field of positive self- conceptions provides the context within which the overweight self- conception becomes the primary source of self-definition. Finally, changes in active processing capacity are hypothesized to contribute to the chronic accessibility of the overweight self-conception. To test this model, the following specific aims will be addressed: 1) describe, compare and contrast the number, organization and content f the total collection of self-conceptions in women with diagnosed and subclinical AN and BN; 2) determine the availability of an over-weight body self- conception in women with diagnosed and subclinical AN and BN; 3) examine the relationship between active processing capacity and accessibility of the overweight self-conception during an acute phase of AN and BN; 4) examine the consequences of activation of the overweight self-conception on affective state, self-esteem and thoughts/actions about food; 5) examine the role of the number, organization and content of the self- conceptions in predicting severity of eating disordered behavior in subclinical populations; and 6) describe changes that occur in active processing capacity and accessibility of the body-weight self-conception as women engage in eating disordered behaviors of varying levels of severity. In study 1, a cross-sectional design will be used to examine properties of the self-concept in women with clinically diagnosed AN (n=30) and BN (n=30). Two matched control groups will be included; women with the diagnosis of borderline personality disorder (n=30) and weight-conscious women who engage in mildly dysregulated eating behaviors (n=30). Self- report measures and information processing paradigms will be used to investigate structural and functional properties of the self-cognitions. Study 2 is a replication and extension of Study 1. A longitudinal panel design will be used to examine the relationship between the self-concept and eating disordered behaviors in subclinical populations of eating disordered women. Two groups of college-aged women who engage food restricting (n=50) and binge/purging behaviors (n=50) and a group of asymptomatic controls (n=50) will be studied for 12 months. Eating behaviors, active processing and flexibility of the overweight self- conception will be measured at months 1, 6 and 12. Structural properties of the self-concept will be examined at month 1 and 12 to identify changes that occur as the result of varying patterns of eating behaviors. These studies should provide theoretically derived and empirically tested knowledge about the structural and functional properties of the self- concept that contribute to eating disordered behaviors in women and serve as the foundation for the development of theoretically based intervention and prevention strategies.
| Stein, Karen Farchaus; Corte, Colleen (2008) The identity impairment model: a longitudinal study of self-schemas as predictors of disordered eating behaviors. Nurs Res 57:182-90 |
| Stein, Karen Farchaus; Corte, Colleen (2007) Identity impairment and the eating disorders: content and organization of the self-concept in women with anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. Eur Eat Disord Rev 15:58-69 |
| Stein, K F (1996) The self-schema model: a theoretical approach to the self-concept in eating disorders. Arch Psychiatr Nurs 10:96-109 |
