Eating behavior, non-food substance consumption and negative urgency in women

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate aspects of eating behavior, presence of non-food substance consumption and negative urgency in women from an on-line support group for eating disorders. METHODS: Participants (n=147) completed questionnaires for binge eating assessment, Intuitive Eating, negative urgency, cognitive restraint and a question of non-food substance consumption. Participants were separated according to criteria for bulimic symptoms and compulsive symptoms. RESULTS: The consumption of non-food substances was 4.8% (n=7). The Bulimic Group (n=61) showed higher values for binge eating (p=0.01), cognitive restraint (p=0.01) and negative urgency (p=0.01) compared with the Compulsive Group (n=86). Only the Compulsive Group showed an inverse correlation between scores for binge eating and Intuitive Eating (p=0.01). In both groups, binge eating was inversely correlated with the subscale of body-food choice congruence of Intuitive Eating scale. As expected, the Bulimic Group reached higher values for measures of disordered behaviors such as cognitive restraint and binge eating, and lower scores for Intuitive Eating. CONCLUSION: The aspects of Intuitive Eating are inversely associated with compulsive and bulimic symptoms and the correlation analyses for binge eating and negative urgency agreed with models reported in published literature about negative urgency.