Frequency of bulimic behaviors and associated social maladjustment in female graduate students.

A questionnaire survey of 550 female medical, business and law students revealed that 12% met criteria for bulimia. The bulimic students reported significantly more social maladjustment than their non-eating disordered peers. Frequency of binging and purging was associated with the degree of social impairment, with significant social dysfunction being noted on the overall scale at a minimum binging/purging frequency of once weekly. This finding suggests that the proposed DSM-III frequency criterion may be too restrictive.