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Perfectionism, perceived weight status, and bulimic symptoms: two studies testing a diathesis-stress model
T E Joiner1, T F Heatherton, M D Rudd
1Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston 77555-0425, USA. thomas.joiner@utmb.edu
Abstract:
Among a total of 890 women from 2 separate nonclinical samples (1 collected in 1982 on college undergraduates, n = 435, and 1 collected in 1992 on women who were in college in 1982, n = 455), the authors tested a diathesis-stress model of the interrelations of perfectionism, perceived weight status, and bulimic symptoms. The authors predicted and found that perfectionism served as a risk factor for bulimic symptoms for women who perceived themselves as overweight but did not serve as a risk factor for those who did not perceive themselves as overweight. Perceived weight activated perfectionism as a predictor of bulimic symptoms; actual weight did not serve the same role. These findings are discussed in the context of recent clinical and social psychological theory regarding development of bulimic symptoms.