The Association of Childhood Trauma, Eating Disorder Symptoms and General Psychopathology in Individuals with Eating Disorders

The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of childhood sexual, physical and emotional abuse and childhood emotional and physical neglect on eating disorder symptoms and general psychopathology. This study utilized a cross-sectional research design incorporating a combination of self-report measures and clinical interviews. Seventy participants were recruited from two eating disorder treatment centres. A series of univariate tests revealed no significant differences between individuals who reported a mild level of trauma and those who reported a severe level of trauma on all clinical measures. Logistic regression analyses revealed associations between impulsivity and childhood physical abuse and between psychiatric comorbidity and childhood physical neglect. Few associations were found and the observed effect sizes were generally small suggesting that the null findings were not due to inadequate power. It may be that the study sample differed from those used in previous investigations in which significant associations have been documented.MAS