Personality Correlates of Disordered Eating.

As part of a larger study, 229 college students completed two self-report measures of eating behavior and four other personality scales. Scores obtained on a new Compulsiveness Inventory—particularly the Indecision subscale—were related to scores on the MacAndrew addition scale were associated with Compulsive Eating and with Dieting; whereas among female, a measure of Type A behavior was related to each eating measure. Measures of compulsiveness and addiction accounted for 26% of variance (R = .51) obtained by males on the Dieting Scale; and males who scored above the mean on the Compulsive Eating Scale obtained a mean of the MacAndrew scale that was equivalent to the alcoholic cut-off. In toto, results suggested that, although compulsive eating among females may have represented simply a stress response, among males it may have reflected more pervasive psychological distress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]