Abstract
Objectives and Subjects : Recently, many cases of middle-aged women with eating disorder have been reported. This study aims to clarify the relations among nurtured experiences from infancy, the internal working mode (mental representation) and the trend of eating disorders in 369 middle-aged women (aged between 30 and 59 years old) by use of questionnaires. Results : A fearful-avoidant type of eating disorder tendency was higher than other types when classified from the internal working model. Also, unstable part of the internal working model affected the eating disorder tendency. The nurturing experience was correlated to the inner working model, but it was uncorrelated to the eating disorder tendency. Conclusion : These results suggest that the characteristics middle-aged women had acquired during their growth process produce the differences in eating disorder tendency.
