Personality in non-clinical adolescents with eating disorders.

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this study was to examine whether personality-related differences also exist in non-clinical adolescents with any given type of eating disorder (ED) and whether personality characteristics are associated with changes in the course of the diagnosis.

METHOD

An initial sample of 1336 boys and girls (mean age: 11.37, SD = 0.62) was assessed in a two-phase long-term study. A total of 258 subjects were selected from the initial sample (T1) and contacted again 2 years later (T2) (n = 200). These subjects comprise the sample group of this study. Of these, 51 were diagnosed with ED (37 with diagnosis type anorexia (DTA) and 14 with diagnosis type bulimia (DTB)). An experimental version of the Junior Temperament and Character Inventory (JTCI) was applied.

RESULTS

Subjects with DTA had significantly higher scores on Reward Dependence and Self-Directedness factors than subjects with no diagnosis or DTB, respectively. Subjects with DTB had higher scores on Novelty Seeking, Harm Avoidance and Spirituality factors than subjects with forms of anorexia or without diagnosed ED. Subjects with ED remission had significantly lower scores on Persistence and Self-Directedness scales. ED incident subjects had significantly higher scores on Harm Avoidance.

CONCLUSIONS

Subjects without full-blown syndromes have similar temperament characteristics to subjects with full eating disorders. These results support the theory that non-full-blown syndromes differ from full syndromes only in pathological severity.