Self-expectations and bulimia

This study focused on exploring bulimic women\u27s self-expectations. It was hypothesized that bulimic women would have high expectations, and perceive that significant others in their lives had high expectations of them. Because of bulimic women\u27s low self-esteem, it was predicted that they would report that they were not living up to their self-expectations. It was predicted that bulimic women would report that they ideally wanted to be more similar to what they view as a traditional feminine role. It was hypothesized that bulimic women would perceive the expectations of others in their lives as being homogeneous. It was hypothesized that bulimic women\u27s expectations would be similar to those of their parents. To investigate these hypotheses, a group of bulimic women in treatment (n = 28), a control group of alcoholic women in treatment (n = 27), and a control group of college women (n = 28) were administered the Michigan Alcohol Screening Test, the FEM feminist scale, the Bulimia Test, and a Repertory Grid which focused on bulimic women\u27s self-expectations. Participants who reported both alcoholic and bulimic characteristics formed an additional group, the mixed group. The bulimic women did not identify with the traditional feminine role as was predicted. The bulimic women did not rate their own expectations as more extreme than the other groups, and did not perceive that others had more extreme expectations of them as compared to the control groups. The bulimic group and the mixed group both perceived that they were not living up to the expectations of their parents. The mixed group perceived that they were not matching up to their self-expectations. The mixed group perceived the expectations of others as the least homogeneous, and the college women perceived the expectations of others as the most homogeneous. A follow-up procedure was conducted in which the bulimic group was split into a less severe, and more severe bulimic group. The more severe bulimic group generally scored in the more pathological direction on the measures, as compared to the less severe bulimics