Comparisons of weight concepts in groups of neurotic, normal and anorexic females.

A group of normal women and a group of women in hospital for treatment of a neurosis but without a disorder of eating were compared with a group of anorexic patients in terms of their attitudes to weight. All subjects completed a rank order form of repertory grid. Differences in construct patterning between the anorexic patients and the other female groups could not be accounted for by social class, age or neurotic disorder. The most psychologically significant finding was a positive correlation between the constructs self at normal weight and ideal weight instead of a negative correlation which clinical experience would lead one to expect. Four explanations are proposed to account for this finding.