Relationships between psychological stress, coping and disordered eating: a review

Objective: Psychological stress and inadequate coping skills have been hypothesized to play important roles in the etiology of disordered eating. This paper reviews the empirical evidence which has emerged regarding the proposed relationships among stress, coping skills a nd various forms of disordered eating. Method: A search of psychological and medical databases was conducted to identify studies examining life events, and other types of psychological stress and coping strategies, in relation to the onset of disordered eating. Results: Despite methodological limitations such as the use of non-representative samples and retrospective methodologies, evidence of relationships between stress, coping and disordered eating was obtained in the majority of studies reviewed. Discussion: The implications of these findings are discussed and suggestions for future research, including the utilization of longitudinal, prospective studies, are presented.