6533b7d5fe1ef96bd1264805
RESEARCH PRODUCT
Meaning in life is associated with the psychopathology of eating disorders: differences depending on the diagnosis
Montserrat CañabateJose H. MarcoSandra Pérezsubject
AdultMale050103 clinical psychologyAnorexia NervosaPersonal SatisfactionAnorexia nervosaFeeding and Eating DisordersYoung Adult03 medical and health sciences0302 clinical medicineNegatively associatedSurveys and QuestionnairesmedicineHumans0501 psychology and cognitive sciencesMeaning (existential)Young adultBulimia NervosaAssociation (psychology)Trastorns de la conducta alimentàriaPsychopathologyVidadigestive oral and skin physiology05 social sciencesAnorèxia nerviosaFeeding BehaviorGeneral MedicineExplained variationmedicine.disease030227 psychiatryPsychiatry and Mental healthClinical PsychologyEating disordersPsicologia pedagògicaFemalePsychologyActitud (Psicologia)Clinical psychologyPsychopathologydescription
Previous studies indicated that meaning in life was inversely associated with eating behaviors and a negative attitude toward food, body satisfaction, and borderline symptoms. However, research on the association between meaning in life and eating disorder psychopathology is scarce, and there are no studies on the association between meaning in life and the eating disorder psychopathology depending on the diagnosis. The aim of the present study is to verify whether meaning in life is differentially associated with a broad range of psychopathology symptoms commonly observed in people with ED, depending on the diagnosis, in a sample of 240 ED patients. We found that meaning in life was negatively associated with eating behaviors and a negative attitude toward food, body satisfaction, borderline symptoms, and hopelessness in all types of eating disorders, regardless of the specific diagnosis. Moreover, the association with meaning in life was different depending on the type of eating disorders. Specifically in the participants with Anorexia Nervosa Restrictive, meaning in life had a higher percentage of explained variance in the eating disorders psychopathology (between 30% and 65%). Therefore, these results seem to indicate that, although meaning in life is an important variable in all the eating disorders subtypes, it is especially relevant in participants with the Anorexia Nervosa Restrictive subtype.
| year | journal | country | edition | language |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019-01-01 | Eating Disorders |