Journal
PERSONALITY AND INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES
Volume 31, Issue 3, Pages 361-369Publisher
PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD
DOI: 10.1016/S0191-8869(00)00142-2
Keywords
binge eating; bulimia; circadian rhythms; morningness-eveningness; self-regulation
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Previous research suggests that evening constitutes a high-risk environment that increases the probability of binge eating and purging. Individual differences in morningness-eveningness are associated with differing levels of exposure to evening, versus day, with night people spending a larger portion of their waking lives during the evening and a smaller portion of their waking lives during the day than do day people. This study tested the hypothesis that greater eveningness is associated with greater binging and purging. One-hundred and fifty-one undergraduates completed the Composite Scale of Morningness-Eveningness, the Bulimia Test-Revised, the Bulimia Scale of the Eating Disorders Inventory, and measures of several other variables. Results showed that eveningness was correlated, moderately and positively (rs = 0.24) with both measures of bulimic behavior; these correlations were reduced only slightly after controlling for other study variables. It is argued that exposure to the dimmer lighting of evening promotes general behavioral disinhibition, thus undermining self-regulatory control and adherence to one's dietary standards, resulting in the disinhibited eating that is the hallmark of bulimia. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
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