Psychopathology and personality of young women who experience food cravings.

The objective of the present study was to investigate the psychopathology and personality characteristics of women who experience food cravings. A total of 101 young women selected at random from the community completed the Diagnostic Interview for Genetic Studies with a trained interviewer. The interview included a section about food-craving experiences and associated factors. Subjects also completed a self-report questionnaire booklet containing the Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI) and the Eating Disorder Inventory (EDI). Compared to noncravers, women who reported food cravings were significantly more likely to report a history of alcohol abuse/dependence (p = .003), significant weight changes (p = .003), and to have undertaken dieting (p = .02), bingeing (p = .05), vomiting (p = .02), exercise (p = .04), diet pill (p = .03), and laxative use (p = .01) to control weight. There was a trend for the cravers to have higher novelty-seeking scores on the TCI (p = .06). Our findings suggest that women who experience food cravings are more likely to have met criteria for alcohol abuse/dependence and tend to have temperament characterized by higher levels of novelty seeking. In addition the high rates of eating-disorder symptomatology implies overconcern with body weight and shape in the women who experienced food cravings.