Dissociation and Physical Abuse as Predictors of Bulimic Symptomatology and Impulse Dysregulation

Abstract The current study examined the relationship between physical abuse, dissociation, bulimic symptomatology, and impulse dysregulation. Subjects were 126 female and 57 male undergraduate and graduate psychology students. Child physical abuse, as measured by the Violence History Questionnaire, was reported by 32% of the sample, The results of this study provide support for the role of violence history in predicting the presence and severity of bulimic symptomatology and impulse dysregulation. Additionally, violence effects were gender specific, yielding higher correlations to bulimia in men and impulsivity in women. Dissociation, though predictive of bulimia for women, did not clearly function as a mediator of violence history.