Shame and guilt in women with eating-disorder symptomatology

✍ Scribed by John Burney; Harvey J. Irwin

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2000
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 65 KB
• Volume: 56
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0021-9762
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1097-4679(200001)56:1<51::aid-jclp5>3.0.co;2-w

✦ Synopsis

The relationship of shame and guilt to eating-disorder symptomatology was investigated in a sample of 97 Australian women. In terms of the objective of predicting the severity of eating disturbance, the study explored the predictive utility of proneness to shame and guilt in a global sense, shame and guilt associated specifically with eating contexts, and shame associated with the body. The study also sought to determine if shame is a more prominent emotion than guilt among women who have eating difficulties. Shame associated with eating behavior was the strongest predictor of the severity of eating-disorder symptomatology. Other effective predictors were guilt associated with eating behavior and body shame. Eating disturbance was unrelated to proneness to shame and guilt in a global sense. Discussion of these findings focuses on the issue of determining whether self-conscious affects are best regarded as causes or as consequences of eating disturbance.