ABSTRACT
Why do some people develop eating disorders (EDs) when many or most of their peers do not? Are there ways to predict who is at elevated risk for eating pathology before the onset of symptoms? What individual-level factors influence the symptoms, course and duration of EDs? Personality traits – enduring characteristics that define important aspects of who we are – are postulated to play a causal role in the etiology, symptomatic expression and maintenance of ED symptoms. Similarly, personality disorders, which involve maladaptive personality traits (American Psychiatric Association 1994), are frequently found
among patients and community members with EDs (Cassin and von Ranson 2005). Not only do major theories of EDs suppose that personality factors are diatheses for eating pathology, but also prospective research has found that personality variables have predictive value for ED symptoms (e.g. Leon et al. 1999).
