Disordered eating among African American and African Caribbean women: the influence of intimate partner violence, depression, and PTSD

Issues Ment Health Nurs. 2012 Aug;33(8):513-21. doi: 10.3109/01612840.2012.687037.

Abstract

We assessed the influence of intimate partner violence (IPV), depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) on disordered eating patterns (DE) among women of African descent through a comparative case-control study (N = 790) in Baltimore, MD, and St. Thomas and St. Croix, US Virgin Islands, from 2009-2011. IPV, depression and PTSD were independent risk factors in the full sample. The relationship between IPV and DE was partially mediated by depression. The influence of risk for lethality from violence was fully mediated by depression. IPV should be considered in research and treatment of DE and both IPV and DE should be assessed when the other or depression is detected.

Publication types

  • Multicenter Study

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Baltimore / epidemiology
  • Black People / psychology*
  • Black or African American / psychology
  • Case-Control Studies
  • Comorbidity
  • Depressive Disorder / ethnology*
  • Depressive Disorder / psychology
  • Feeding and Eating Disorders / ethnology*
  • Feeding and Eating Disorders / psychology
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Logistic Models
  • Middle Aged
  • Multivariate Analysis
  • Risk Factors
  • Spouse Abuse / ethnology*
  • Spouse Abuse / psychology
  • Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / ethnology*
  • Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / psychology
  • United States Virgin Islands / epidemiology