A test of the social withdrawal syndrome hypothesis of bulimia nervosa

Abstract

Background The study examined the social withdrawal syndrome (SWS) hypothesis of bulimia nervosa (BN). According to the hypothe-sis, eating disorders such as BN are associated with a coherent set of social withdrawal cognitions, affect, and behavior. Participants and procedure Eight-eight young female adults completed a standardized measure of bulimic symptoms and measures of social with-drawal (affective withdrawal, trust beliefs in close others, and disclosure). Participants were engaged in a laboratory-based peer interaction which yielded the SWS measure of perceived lack of social connectiveness. Results Bulimic symptoms were associated with each measure of social withdrawal. Structural equation modeling analysis con-firmed that those measures contributed to a coherent latent factor which was associated with bulimic symptoms. Conclusions The findings supported the social withdrawal syndrome hypothesis of BN and have implications for the detection and treatment of eating disorders.

Keywords

• bulimic symptoms
• trust beliefs
• affective withdrawal
• disclosure
• social connectiveness