Predicting eating disturbances in Turkish adult females: Examining the role of intimate partner violence and perfectionism

• We examined for predictors of eating disturbances in adult Turkish females.
• Intimate partner violence was an important predictor of dieting and bulimia.
• Perfectionism was also found to predict eating disturbances.
• However, different dimensions of perfectionism predicted dieting and bulimia.

We examined the relationships between intimate partner violence (IPV), perfectionism, and eating disturbances, namely, excessive dieting and bulimia, in a sample of 149 Turkish female college students. Results of conducting hierarchical regression analyses indicated that IPV accounted for significant variance in both excessive dieting and bulimic symptoms. The inclusion of perfectionism was found to predict additional variance in eating disturbances, beyond IPV. Specifically, we found parental expectations to be a significant predictor of dieting, and personal standards, doubts about actions, and parental criticism to be significant predictors of bulimia. Some implications for understanding eating disturbances in Turkish women are discussed.