Sexual experience and eating problems in female undergraduates

Interrelationships between problems associated with eating and sexual experience were examined in a nonclinic population. The Eating Attitudes Test and a Sexual Events Questionnaire were used with a sample of 130 female undergraduates. The data confirmed the hypothesis that there is a significant association between unwanted sexual experience and eating problems. It is suggested that sexual abuse may act as one of a number of setting conditions for the development of eating problems and that intrafamilial and extrafamilial experiences may differentially affect the type of symptomatology exhibited.