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Published on: May 8, 2018
Self-silencing in a clinical sample of female adolescents with eating disorders
Annick Buchholz1, Katherine A Henderson, Adrienne Hounsell
1Regional Eating Disorders Program for Youth, Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute, Ottawa, Ontario. buchholz@cheo.on.ca
Objective:
The present study was designed to assess the relationship between self-silencing behaviours and eating disorder symptoms in a female adolescent population with eating disorders.
Method:
One hundred and forty-nine adolescent girls between the ages of 13 and 18 completed a comprehensive assessment at a tertiary care children's hospital. Each participant completed the Eating Disorder Inventory-2 (EDI-2; Garner, 1991), the Multidimensional Anxiety Scale for Children (MASC; March et al, 1997), and an adapted version of the Silencing the Self Scale for adolescents (STSS; Sippola & Bukowski, 1996).
Results:
Self-silencing behaviours correlated strongly with eating disorder symptomatology. Social anxiety was found to predict body dissatisfaction, while externalized self-perception was found to contribute uniquely to body dissatisfaction and drive for thinness, two risk factors closely associated with eating disorders.
Conclusion:
These results suggest the importance of including relational and emotional development in comprehensive models of disordered eating.
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