Ongoing research into eating disorders is a significant and important need; this because over 35 percent of American women engage in binge eating, eight percent attempt to control their weight through self-induced vomiting, and nearly six percent abuse laxatives (Kendler, MacLean, Neale, Kessler, Heath & Eaves, 1991). In other words, almost half (49%) of American females have some type of eating disorder.
Clearly, there is a need to fully understand factors that produce eating disorders if therapeutic efforts to remediate the condition are to be successful. The study proposed here is designed to provide new insight into the connection between eating disorders and childhood sexual abuse as part of the effort to attain a more complete phenomena of the etiology of eating disorders.
It should be noted that because of the connection of eating disorders with childhood sexual abuse, the study is not only important because it will provide more information about eating disorders but it should also be of assistance to women who have suffered some form of childhood sexual abuse. Like eating disorders, sexual abuse is a pervasive, complex societal problem estimated to have been experienced by 30% 46% of American females (Sue, Sue & Sue, 1994).
Moreover, the consequences of childhood sexual abuse are grave. In this regard, O'Shea (1993) reports that:
The psychosocial consequences are numerous, often severe, and can result in death. They include: anxiety, BPD, denial, dependence, despair, eating disorders, destructive relationships, fear, guilt, hallucinations, helplessness, hopelessness, hysteria, insecurity, isolation, MPD, nightmares, numbness, passivity, pessimism, phobias, PTSD, rage, self-loathing, sexual dysfunctions, shame, shock, sleeping disorders, stigmatization, stress-related disorders, substance abuse, and suicide. (O'Shea, 1993, p. 681)
If eating disorders are another consequence of childhood sexual abuse,...