Sexuality, Personality, and Eating Disorders

Abstract

To assess sexuality, personality, and eating pathology in women with eating disorders (EDs), we asked a random sample of 234 clinicians to describe an ED patient (age 16-65). Restricting AN patients tended to be childlike and prim/proper, while BN patients tended to be flirtatious and promiscuous. A constricted/overcontrolled personality predicted a childlike sexuality independent of AN diagnosis, and an undercontrolled, emotionally dysregulated personality predicted impulsive sexuality above and beyond BN diagnosis. Constraint and impulsivity are not isolated to the domain of eating in women with EDs. Personality provides a link between eating and sexuality in at least a subset of women with EDs.