The Relationship of Intimate Partner Violence and Help-Seeking with Eating Disorder Symptoms

The current study used the SVAWS, MMEA, BES, and EAT 26 to test the hypothesis that victims of IPV would have a greater number of and more severe eating disorder symptoms than those who have not been victimized. The current study also used the SRQ, BES, and EAT 26 to test the hypothesis that of those who experienced IPV and sought help, those who received positive reactions would have a different number and severity of eating disorder symptoms than those who received negative reactions. Two MANVOVAs did not find support for these hypotheses however, exploratory analyses did find relationships of IPV and frequency of receiving negative reactions to help-seeking with symptoms of Bulimia Nervosa. Implications are discussed