TCI temperamental scores in bulimia nervosa patients and normal women with and without diet experiences.

In order to distinguish the trigger and the factors maintaining bulimia nervosa (BN), TCI temperamental scores were compared among BN patients, normal controls without diet experiences (N-N), and normal controls with diet experiences (N-D). On the novelty-seeking (NS) scale, the BN patients scored significantly higher than the N-N subjects, but there was no significant difference between the BN patients and the N-D subjects, and the N-D subjects scored higher than the N-N subjects. These findings suggest that high NS scores are related to diet experiences rather than chronic bulimic symptoms.