Perfectionism and rigidity have long been linked to anorexia and
bulimia. But researchers now have evidence that if manifest in childhood,
perfectionism and other obsessive-compulsive personality traits are
strong predictors of developing eating disorders.
Those with obsessive-compulsive (OC) traits answered positively to
questions like, Did you spend a long time doing or redoing your hair to
make sure it was straight without bumps? To what extent were you the sort
of person who liked to make written notes/plans or have intricate details
about the time ahead? Questions tackled inflexibility, rigidity, the need
for rules, the presence of excessive doubt and cautiousness, and the
drive for order and symmetry.
The more OC traits a woman showed as a child, the more likely she
was to develop an eating disorder as a teen or adult. Each additional OC
childhood trait increased the odds of developing anorexia or bulimia
nearly seven-fold.
"Childhood obsessive-compulsive personality traits are important
risk factors for the development of eating disorders, particularly
anorexia nervosa," the researchers report in the American Journal of
Psychiatry.
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