PARENTAL LOSS AND EATING-RELATED COGNITIONS AND BEHAVIORS IN COLLEGE-AGE WOMEN

Abstract

To examine the eating-related cognitions and behaviors of college-age women who had experienced parental death, parental divorce, or neither loss condition, we recruited 48 women from science and social science departments at a state university in the Southeast. All participants completed the Mizes Anorectic Cognitions Scale (MAC) and the Bulimia Test–Revised (BULIT-R).  Women who had experienced parental death scored significantly higher on the MAC than individuals who had experienced parental divorce. Participants who had experienced parental death also exhibited higher MAC scores than their peers in the nonloss group, but this difference just failed to meet conventional levels of significance. No significant differences emerged on the BULIT-R. The findings suggest that although college-age women who have experienced parental death may not exhibit bulimic behaviors, an assessment of their anorectic-related cognitions may be warranted.

We wish to thank colleagues Deb Bennett Marilyn Haring Deb Taub, and Carole Pistole for feedback on earlier versions of the article.

Notes

^aMizes Anorectic Cognitions Scale.

^bBulimia Test–Revised.