Does the link between posttraumatic cognitions and eating pathology depend on trauma type? The role of sexual violence.

Exposure to potentially traumatic events is well-known to disrupt cognitions about the self. Among trauma-exposed college students, negative cognitions about the self can include low self-worth and heightened perception of behavioral control over outcomes (i.e., self-controllability), including overevaluation of self-control over weight, shape, and eating behaviors. Thus, posttraumatic cognitions may increase risk for eating pathology. These associations may be particularly heightened among those whose trauma was of a sexual nature, given the stigma and inaccurate rape myths that often place the blame on sexual violence survivors rather than perpetrators. Consistent with these possibilities, the present study tested whether sexual violence history moderated expected associations between lower self-worth and greater eating pathology and between greater self-controllability and eating pathology.