Mutuality as an Aspect of Family Functioning in Predicting Eating Disorder Symptoms in College Women

Jennifer L. Sanftner PhD Department of Psychology, Slippery Rock University, 226 Vincent Science Hall, Slippery Rock, PA, 16057, USA

Rebecca P. Cameron PhD Department of Psychology, California State University, 6000 J. Street, Sacramento, CA, 95819, USA

Mary Tantillo PhD, RN, CS Unity Health System, Genesee Street Campus, 835 W. Main Street, Rochester, NY, 14611, USA

Caron P. Heigel BS Department of Psychology, Slippery Rock University, 226 Vincent Science Hall, Slippery Rock, PA, 16057, USA

David Myron Martin BS Department of Psychology, California State University, 6000 J. Street, Sacramento, CA, 95819, USA

Julie Ann Sippel-Silowash BS Department of Psychology, Slippery Rock University, 226 Vincent Science Hall, Slippery Rock, PA, 16057, USA

Jane M. Taggart BS Department of Psychology, California State University, 6000 J. Street, Sacramento, CA, 95819, USA

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Abstract

We examined mutuality, an aspect of Relational Cultural Theory, in an ethnically diverse sample of 397 college women from Midwestern and Western universities. We hypothesized that mutuality would predict scores on an eating disorder scale after controlling for traditional family variables, such as expressed emotion. As predicted, mutuality, as assessed by the Mutual Psychological Development Questionnaire, was significantly associated with eating disorder symptoms and behaviors, as assessed by the Eating Disorder Inventory 2, even when the variance accounted for by the similar construct of expressed emotion was factored out. Results are discussed in the context of different patterns of association evidenced between college students and their mothers, fathers, and romantic partners.

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Mutuality as an Aspect of Family Functioning in Predicting Eating Disorder Symptoms in College Women

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