Social support, social adjustment, and recovery status in bulimia nervosa

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To examine recovery status in bulimia nervosa (BN) and its relation to social support and social adjustment. METHOD: Using a cross-sectional design, we administered the modified Social Support Questionnaire and the Social Adjustment Scale-Self-Report (SAS-SR) to 40 women, each of whom was actively bulimic (ABN), was in remission from BN (RBN), or had no history of eating disturbance (comparison). RESULTS: In terms of social support, relative to RBN and comparison subjects, the ABN group had significantly fewer persons in their friendship and kinship networks available to provide emotional support, although the groups were equivalent in number of persons available to provide things and advice. Relative to the comparison group, both bulimic groups were significantly dissatisfied with the quality of emotional support provided by relatives. On the SAS-SR, women in the ABN group displayed the poorest overall social functioning. The RBN group was functioning significantly better than the ABN group, but significantly more poorly than the comparison group. DISCUSSION: Our results suggest that the social functioning of RBN women lies between ABN women and non-eating-disordered women, indicating both gains relative to the active phase and residual deficits.