Evolutionary Psychology
www.epjournal.net – 2009. 7(4): 585-600
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Original Article
Life History Strategy and Disordered Eating Behavior
Catherine Salmon, Department of Psychology, University of Redlands, Redlands, CA, USA. Email:
Catherine_Salmon@redlands.edu.
Aurelio José Figueredo, Department of Psychology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA. Email:
ajf@u.arizona.edu (Corresponding author).
Lindsey Woodburn, Department of Psychology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA. Email:
woodburn@email.arizona.edu.
Abstract: A sample of female undergraduates completed a packet of questionnaires
consisting of the Arizona Life History Battery, a modified version of the Eating Disorders
Inventory, the Behavioral Regulation scales from the Behavior Rating Inventory of
Executive Function, and two measures of Female Intrasexual Competitiveness that
distinguished between competition for mates and competition for status. As predicted,
Executive Functions completely mediated the relation between Slow Life History Strategy
and Disordered Eating Behavior. Surprisingly, however, the relation between Female
Intrasexual Competitiveness (competition for mates and competition for status) and
Disordered Eating Behavior was completely spurious, with executive functions serving as a
common cause underlying the inhibition of both Disordered Eating Behavior and Female
Intrasexual Competitiveness. The protective function of Slow Life History Strategy with
respect to Disordered Eating Behavior apparently resides in a higher degree of Behavioral
Regulation, a type of Executive Function. The enhanced Behavioral Regulation or self-
control, of individuals with a Slow Life History Strategy is also protective against
hazardously escalated levels of Female Intrasexual Competitiveness.
Keywords: eating disorders, anorexia, bulimia, life history strategy, executive functions,
female intrasexual competition
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