Dissociation and eating psychopathology: gender differences in a nonclinical population

This study investigated gender differences in the relationship between dissociation and eating psychopathology in a non-eating-disordered population.

Two hundred forty-nine male and female students completed the Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES) and the Eating Disorders Inventory (EDI).

In both men and women, dissociative experiences were linked more with underlying ego dysfunction than with eating behaviors per se. Specific gender differences were found. Women's EDI scores were most strongly associated with experiences of depersonalization and derealization, although absorption may play an indirect role via poor impulse regulation. In contrast, men's EDI scores were most strongly associated with experiences of amnesia and imaginative absorption.

The findings suggest that it is not adequate to consider dissociation as a unitary construct when examining its link to eating problems. While the findings require replication with a clinical group, the gender differences in the DES-EDI link highlight a potential need to address different defensive styles when working with male and female clients.