High self-reported rates of neglect and emotional abuse, by persons with binge eating disorder and night eating syndrome

Abstract

This study compared rates of self-reported childhood maltreatment in three groups diagnosed using semi-structured interviews: binge eating disorder (BED; n=176), night eating syndrome (NES, n=57), and overweight/obese comparison (OC, n=38). We used the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ) to assess childhood maltreatment and the Beck Depression Inventory-II to assess depression levels. Reports of maltreatment were common in patients with BED (82%), NES (79%), and OC (71%). The BED group reported significantly more forms of maltreatment above clinical cut-points (2.4) than the OC (1.4) group but not the NES (1.8) group. The BED and NES groups reported more emotional abuse than the OC group. A higher proportion of the BED group reported emotional neglect and a higher proportion of the NES group reported physical neglect. Depression levels, which were higher in BED and NES than OC, were associated with higher levels of physical and emotional abuse and neglect. In conclusion, reported rates of physical and sexual abuse differed little across groups, whereas reports of neglect and emotional abuse were higher in the BED and NES groups than in the OC group and were associated with elevated depression levels.

Figure 1

Rates of childhood maltreatment across levels of depressed mood on the BDI - II. Wilks’ λ =0.84, F(15) = 707.1, p < 0.001. Different superscripts denote group differences using Bonferonni correction, * p < 0.05 and **p < 0.01.

Figure 2

Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ) dimensional scores displayed by group. ANCOVA controls for age and race. Wilks’ λ = 0.516, F(10, 514) = 20.2, p < 0.001. Means are displayed above each bar. Different letters denote group differences using Bonferonni correction, ** p < 0.001. BED and comparison participants also differed on physical neglect when controlling for BDI score, p = 0.006 (Wilks’ λ = 0.534, F(10, 512) = 18.9, p < 0.001).