Epidemiologic changes in bulimic behavior among female adolescents over a five-year period

Because bulimia has only recently been recognized as a distinct diagnostic category, little is known about the extent to which this disorder has reached a stable morbidity in our culture. In this study we compared two samples of female adolescents which were collected 5 years apart, in 1981 and 1986. The samples were collected from the same suburban high school to ensure that the groups would be demographically equivalent. The 1986 sample demonstrated a 50% reduction in bulimic behaviors, a marked decrease in the prevalence of dieting behavior, and a reduction in preoccupation with thinness. Nevertheless, body dissatisfaction remained the same in the latter sample. Implications for the etiology of bulimia are discussed.