The connection between childhood maltreatment and eating disorder psychopathology: a network analysis study in people with bulimia nervosa and with binge eating disorder

Alessio Maria Monteleone, Orna Tzischinsky, Giammarco Cascino, Sigal Alon, Francesca Pellegrino, Valeria Ruzzi, Yael Latzer

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Purpose: Childhood maltreatment (CM) experiences are associated with heightened risk of Eating disorders (EDs). The psychopathological pathways promoting this association in people with Bulimia nervosa (BN) and in those with Binge eating disorder (BED) are under-investigated. Methods: One hundred and eighty-one people with BN and 144 with BED filled in the Eating Disorder Inventory-2, to measure ED psychopathology, and the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire, to assess their early traumatic experiences. Network analysis was conducted to investigate the interplay between those variables. The shortest pathways function was employed to investigate the shortest out of all routes conveying the association between CM and ED-specific symptoms. Results: In both people with BN and with BED, all CM types were connected to the ED psychopathology through the emotional abuse node. The association between emotional abuse and ED-specific symptoms (bulimia and body dissatisfaction) differed in the two groups: in people with BN, it included ineffectiveness, while in people with BED, it involved impulsivity. Interoceptive awareness, an indirect measure of emotion regulation, was included in these pathways in both groups. Conclusion: In the light of literature showing that emotional abuse has a connecting role between CM and ED psychopathology also in anorexia nervosa, the present findings support the idea that emotional abuse conveys such association in all the main ED diagnoses. Ineffectiveness and impulsivity may represent the specific psychopathological dimensions connected to emotional abuse and promoting the maintenance of ED-specific symptoms in BN and in BED, respectively. These findings are worth of attention by clinicians. Level of evidence: Level III: evidence obtained from well-designed cohort or case–control analytic studies.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)253-261
Number of pages9
JournalEating and Weight Disorders
Volume27
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Feb 2022

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021, The Author(s).

Keywords

  • Binge eating disorder
  • Bulimia nervosa
  • Childhood maltreatment
  • Emotional abuse
  • Network analysis
  • Psychopathology

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Clinical Psychology
  • Psychiatry and Mental health

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'The connection between childhood maltreatment and eating disorder psychopathology: a network analysis study in people with bulimia nervosa and with binge eating disorder'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this