The relationship between anorexic-like symptoms and sexuality among female college students

Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder that occurs almost exclusively in women, with its prominent features being caloric restriction, excessive exercise, and emaciation. Research has found that women with anorexia nervosa generally have less sexual experience and more negative sexual attitudes when compared to "normal" women. There has been little research, however, on the potential relationship between sexuality and anorexic-like symptoms among women who do not meet diagnostic criteria for an eating disorder. Therefore, this study employed a population of college women to investigate the hypothesis that anorexic-like symptoms would be related to less sexual experience and more negative sexual attitudes. The correlations that were obtained did not support the hypotheses. Results are discussed with regard to directions for future research.