The eating disturbed spectrum in relation with coping and interpersonal functioning

Although much has been written with regards to the interpersonal functioning of eating-disordered women, research in the domain of eating disorders (ED) has still overlooked the complex relationships between stressful life events, coping styles, social and marital support while considering the ED spectrum.

This study evaluates to what extent stressful life events, coping styles, and social support represent useful concepts for differentiating between four groups of participants with varying severity of eating preoccupations and disturbances.

One hundred twenty-five participants were divided into four groups: 40 women suffering from ED, 21 women in remission from an ED, 33 women with intense weight and shape preoccupations, and 31 women without eating preoccupations. Each participant completed the Eating Disorder Evaluation, as well as questionnaires concerning stressful life events, coping styles, social support, and couple satisfaction.

There were significant differences between the groups in terms of negative impact of stressful events, social support, as well as task-oriented and emotion-oriented coping styles. Significant differences were not found between the groups for couple satisfaction.

It appears that accurate cognitive appraisal of stressful situations, adaptive coping styles and improvement of the social network represent interesting dimensions to include in prevention and treatment programs for ED. Moreover, for women in remission from an ED, an effective relapse prevention strategy could be to learn to make better use of their social network.