Anxiety, Alexithymia, and Depression as Mediators of the Association between Childhood Abuse and Eating Disordered Behavior in African American and European American Women

Abstract

This study evaluated structural equation models of the associations among family functioning, childhood abuse, depression, anxiety, alexithymia, and eating disorder symptomatology in a sample of 412 European American and 192 African American female undergraduates. Additionally, the specific roles of anxiety, depression, and alexithymia as mediators were assessed. Each of these variables was a significant mediator of the association between childhood abuse and disordered eating. Finally, a test of invariance between the African American and European American subsamples was significant, highlighting the need for additional cross-cultural eating disorder research.