Marital functioning and binge eating disorder in married women

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the association between marital functioning and binge eating disorder (BED).

In a population-based survey of 2,084 married women, women with current (i.e., occurring in the past 12 months) BED were compared on three measures of marital functioning (marital satisfaction, negative interaction, and positive interaction) to women with (a) other current Axis I disorders and (b) no current disorder.

Women with BED reported lower levels of marital satisfaction and higher levels of negative interaction than women with other disorders, who in turn reported poorer functioning than women with no disorder. Women with other disorders reported lower levels of positive interaction than women with BED, who in turn reported lower levels than women with no disorder.

Findings suggest that marital functioning for women with BED is comparable to or worse than for women with other psychiatric disorders, which supports the need for continued investigation into the marital functioning of people with BED.