Date of Award

1989

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts

Department

Psychology

Abstract

Preoccupation with physical appearance is a hallmark of adolescence, and distorted body images are common among teenage women in developed countries around the world. Obviously alI of these adolescents are not contracting eating disorders, and a distorted body image, although necessary, is not sufficient to induce anorexia. The mitigating factor appears to be family relations and environments. Previous research has noted unusual relationships among family members of anorexic girls. The present study contends that familial factors and environments powerfully direct both the move toward and the recovery from anorexia nervosa. It is hypothesized that high scores on the Family Environment and Enmeshment Detection Scale (FEEDS), developed for this study, wilI correlate with and reliably predict high scores on the Eating Disorder Inventory (EDI) (Garner, Olmsted & Polivy, 1983) and the Eating Attitudes Test (Garner & Garfinkel, 1979). Subjects were females in Introductory Psychology classes and female anorexic patients receiving outpatient treatment. Previous research predicts the college sample wilI contain at least eleven to thirteen percent of subjects with high scores on the inventories.

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