Articles: Self-mutilation eating disorders may be linked: college women - Clinical Rounds
By Bruce Jancin
DENVER -- Cutting behavior is closely associated with bingeing and purging in female college students, Wendy D. Hoyt, Ph.D., reported at an international conference of the Academy for Eating Disorders.
This finding in a large epidemiologic survey is consistent with the notion that intentional cutting behavior and eating disorders represent forms of self-harmful behavior that may serve similar functions, including tension reduction, a purgative effect, avoidance of negative situations, and nonverbal expression of emotions, according to Dr. Hoyt of the River Centre Clinic in Sylvania, Ohio.
She mailed a 59-question survey on impulsive behaviors to 4,000 randomly selected undergraduate students at a large public university. The survey was designed to assess comorbidity of three classes of self-harm: cutting behavior, eating disorders, and alcohol/drug use. The questionnaire was completed and returned by 1,206 female and 735 male students.
Twelve percent of female students: reported having engaged in deliberate cutting behavior. Fifty-seven percent of them indicated that they first engaged in this form of self-mutilation by age 15; only 11.5% first cut themselves after the age of 18. Forty-three percent of the females said they had scars as a result of the self-cutting, and 11.7% indicated that they had engaged in cutting behavior within the last week.
Forty-six percent of responding female students reported engaging in restrictive dieting, 73.4% feared becoming fat, 24.2% reported binge eating, and 6.4% admitted to intentional vomiting. Two-thirds of respondents currently used recreational drugs and/or alcohol, and 8.3% of female students met diagnostic criteria for depression.
A total of 4.2% of female students met diagnostic criteria for anorexia nervosa--binge/purge subtype. Twenty-eight percent of them bad a history of cutting behavior. They also had significantly higher rates of depression, sexual or physical abuse and/or neglect, and nicotine and alcohol use than did non-eating-disorder respondents.
Bingeing and vomiting were the eating disorder symptoms most strongly associated with participation in self-cutting. These findings underscore the need for campus health professionals to be aware that the two psychopathologies often go together, Dr. Hoyt said at the meeting, which was sponsored by the University of New Mexico.
Eleven percent of male students reported engaging in cutting behavior. A history of sexual and/or physical abuse was more common among cutters. However, only 4 of 735 males met criteria for an eating disorder.
COPYRIGHT 2003 International Medical News Group
COPYRIGHT 2003 Gale Group
This finding in a large epidemiologic survey is consistent with the notion that intentional cutting behavior and eating disorders represent forms of self-harmful behavior that may serve similar functions, including tension reduction, a purgative effect, avoidance of negative situations, and nonverbal expression of emotions, according to Dr. Hoyt of the River Centre Clinic in Sylvania, Ohio.
She mailed a 59-question survey on impulsive behaviors to 4,000 randomly selected undergraduate students at a large public university. The survey was designed to assess comorbidity of three classes of self-harm: cutting behavior, eating disorders, and alcohol/drug use. The questionnaire was completed and returned by 1,206 female and 735 male students.
Twelve percent of female students: reported having engaged in deliberate cutting behavior. Fifty-seven percent of them indicated that they first engaged in this form of self-mutilation by age 15; only 11.5% first cut themselves after the age of 18. Forty-three percent of the females said they had scars as a result of the self-cutting, and 11.7% indicated that they had engaged in cutting behavior within the last week.
Forty-six percent of responding female students reported engaging in restrictive dieting, 73.4% feared becoming fat, 24.2% reported binge eating, and 6.4% admitted to intentional vomiting. Two-thirds of respondents currently used recreational drugs and/or alcohol, and 8.3% of female students met diagnostic criteria for depression.
A total of 4.2% of female students met diagnostic criteria for anorexia nervosa--binge/purge subtype. Twenty-eight percent of them bad a history of cutting behavior. They also had significantly higher rates of depression, sexual or physical abuse and/or neglect, and nicotine and alcohol use than did non-eating-disorder respondents.
Bingeing and vomiting were the eating disorder symptoms most strongly associated with participation in self-cutting. These findings underscore the need for campus health professionals to be aware that the two psychopathologies often go together, Dr. Hoyt said at the meeting, which was sponsored by the University of New Mexico.
Eleven percent of male students reported engaging in cutting behavior. A history of sexual and/or physical abuse was more common among cutters. However, only 4 of 735 males met criteria for an eating disorder.
COPYRIGHT 2003 International Medical News Group
COPYRIGHT 2003 Gale Group
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