Validating a multidimensional model of the psychopathology of bulimia nervosa

In a recent preliminary report, a multidimensional model for bulimia nervosa was proposed with latent dimensions body dissatisfaction, restricting behaviors, bulimic behaviors, and affective and personality disorder. It was suggested that body dissatisfaction clearly represented a distinct dimension of the disorder. In the current investigation, we cross-validated the prior results on a larger sample with a different set of variables and tested the fit against alternative models. Subjects were 497 women diagnosed as having bulimia nervosa. We performed a confirmatory factor analysis using the LISREL 7 program. The results supported the fit of the four-dimensional model, but also suggested that self-injurious behaviors may represent additional separate dimensions of the disorder, relatively independent of the affective disturbance.