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Sexual maturation and control issues among sexually abused and non-abused anorexia patients
Objectives:
To assess the relative salience of the maintenance of control and the avoidance of sexual maturation as sources of motivation for maintaining pathological eating behaviours among sexually abused anorexic patients.
Design/Methods:
A two-factor mixed experimental design was employed. Three independent groups (sexually abused anorexics (N = 12); non-abused anorexics (N = 9); non-anorexic/non-abused controls (N = 12)) constituted the between-subjects factor. Allocation to abuse/non-abuse group was dependent upon replies to a questionnaire-based measure of unwanted sexual experience. The within-subjects factor comprised three conditions in which words of various colours were presented to participants for colour-naming (Stroop, 1935). The conditions were represented by lists of neutral words, sexual maturation words, and control-related words. Two trials were carried out in each condition and mean response times were measured.
Results:
Within-group analyses revealed that interference was greater from sexual maturation words than from control-related words among the sexually-abused anorexics, but of equal magnitude among non-abused counterparts. Between-groups analyses found that abused patients experienced marginally greater cognitive interference from sexual maturation words than the non-abused patients.
Conclusion:
Theoretically, support is offered for elaborated schematic models of cognitive processing. Clinically, treatment interventions may need to pay particular attention to issues of sexual maturation among sexually abused anorexic patients.