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Shoplifting and eating disorders: an anonymous self-administered survey

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Eating and Weight Disorders - Studies on Anorexia, Bulimia and Obesity Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

To explore the characteristics of eating disorders related to shoplifting behavior and identify the risk and protective factors related to shoplifting among patients with eating disorders.

Methods

Eighty females with eating disorders were recruited from an eating disorders clinic. They were asked to complete anonymous self-report questionnaires on demographic characteristics, shoplifting behavior, psychological characteristics and eating disorder symptomology. We investigated differences in clinical characteristics between those with and without shoplifting history or a current drive to shoplift.

Results

The response rate was 92.5%. Of the respondents, 37.8% reported a history of shoplifting and 16.2% a current drive for shoplifting. The patients with shoplifting history had lower socioeconomic status (SES), higher impulsivity and higher symptom severity of eating disorders compared with those without this history. The patients with a current drive for shoplifting had more depressive symptoms, more severe anxiety, more obsessional traits, and higher symptom severity of eating disorders.

Conclusions

Severity of illness and SES seem to have a serious impact on shoplifting behavior among eating disordered patients. These findings may suggest risk and protective factors related to shoplifting among eating disordered patients.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported in part by Kyoto University Research Development Program MIGAKI.

Funding

The authors declare that no funding source was involved in this study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, 54 Shogoin-Kawaharacho, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto, 606-8507, Japan

    Maya Yanase, Genichi Sugihara, Toshiya Murai & Shun’ichi Noma

Authors
  1. Maya Yanase
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  2. Genichi Sugihara
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  3. Toshiya Murai
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  4. Shun’ichi Noma
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Shun’ichi Noma.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Yanase, M., Sugihara, G., Murai, T. et al. Shoplifting and eating disorders: an anonymous self-administered survey. Eat Weight Disord 23, 753–759 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40519-017-0394-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40519-017-0394-9

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