Core beliefs and bulimic symptomatology in non-eating-disordered women: The mediating role of borderline characteristics

Objective: To establish whether borderline personality disorder symptoms play a mediating role in the relationship between early maladaptive schemata and bulimic symptomatology, using a nonclinical sample. Method: Sixty-one female undergraduate students completed the Bulimic Investigatory Test, Edinburgh (BITE), the Borderline Syndrome Index (BSI), and the short form of the Young Schema Questionnaire (YSQ). Results: Borderline symptoms were found to be a perfect mediator in the relationship between defectiveness/shame beliefs and bulimic symptomatology. Conclusions: A model is proposed suggesting that the functional utility of bulimic behaviors might be in counteracting the negative emotions associated with borderline symptoms. (C) 2001 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.