PUB TYPE Reports Research/Technical (143)--

In this study the relationship of parental attachment and psychological separation to levels of eating disorder symptoms was examined for a sample of college women (N=162) from English class: At a private, urban, coeducational Jesuit university in the northeast. Participants resonded to the Parental Attachment Questionnaire, the Parental Separation Inventory, and the Eating Disorder Inventory. Consistent with expectations the results suggested that family relationships characterized by secure parental attachment are associated with adaptive psychological functioning and low levels of dysfunctional eating behaviors involving compulsive binge eating and self-induced vomiting. Contrary to expectations, characteristics of parental attachment were not associated with Drive for Thinness and Body Dissatisfaction. Other research has shown that high levels of body dissatisfaction are common among college women