Lifetime Traumatic Experiences and Disordered Eating among University Students: The Role of Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms

Table 1

Associations between TEs, PTS symptoms, and DE.

	Total		PTS symptoms			DE
		%		%			%
DE
No	564	91.9
Yes	50	8.1
PTS symptoms
No	446	72.6				24	48.0
Yes	168	27.4				26	52.0	<0.0001
Sex
Boys	182	29.6	36	19.8		10	5.5
Girls	432	70.4	132	30.6	0.006	40	9.3	0.119
Lifetime TEs
No	160	26.1	28	17.5		10	6.3
Yes	454	73.9	140	30.8	<0.001	40	8.8	0.309
Traffic accident	126	20.5	50	39.7	<0.001	12	9.5	0.525
Other serious accident	76	12.4	26	34.2	0.152	10	13.2	0.088
Threats of being beaten	40	6.5	16	40.0	0.064	4	10.0	0.567
Pregnancy/abortion	14	2.3	8	57.1	0.011	0	0	0.260
Physical assault	50	8.1	22	44.0	0.006	10	20.0	<0.001
Absence of a parent	90	14.7	40	44.4	<0.0001	8	8.9	0.780
Seriously injured	48	7.8	30	62.5	<0.0001	6	12.5	0.250
Death of someone close	132	21.5	32	24.2	0.364	14	10.6	0.243
Serious illness	80	13.0	36	45.0	<0.0001	6	7.5	0.822
Rape	10	1.6	10	100.0	<0.0001	6	60.0	<0.0001
Sexual harassment	14	2.3	12	85.7	<0.0001	6	42.9	<0.0001
Divorce	76	12.4	38	50.0	<0.0001	2	2.6	0.061
Attempted suicide	16	2.6	8	50.0	0.040	0	0	0.228
Witnessed other people being injured or killed	18	2.9	10	55.6	0.006	2	11.1	0.640
Bullying	14	2.3	4	28.6	0.918	4	28.6	<0.005
Near drowning	84	13.7	30	35.7	0.065	16	19.0	<0.0001
Robbery/theft	28	4.6	8	28.6	0.883	6	21.4	0.009
Personal serious health problem	44	7.2	22	50.0	<0.0001	6	13.6	0.167
Childhood emotional abuse	84	13.7	34	40.5	0.004	10	11.9	0.175
Childhood physical abuse	10	1.6	2	20.0	0.599	2	20.0	0.167
Severe childhood neglect	12	2.0	8	66.7	0.002	4	33.3	<0.001

Note. calculated in chi-squared test; PTS symptoms: posttraumatic stress symptoms; DE: disordered eating; TEs: traumatic events.