Personal and parental alcohol abuse, and victimization in obese binge eaters and nonbingeing obese.

Current obesity research has begun to emphasize the importance of pretreatment assessment and more individually tailored treatment protocols. Obese binge eaters have been identified as a subgroup of the obese who do not respond well to standard behavioral treatment programs. We were interested in identifying variables that are important to consider when assessing and treating obese binge eaters. The present study assessed the prevalence of personal alcohol abuse, parental alcohol abuse, and victimization in 62 males and 274 females seeking treatment for obesity. Obese binge eaters (OBE) had significantly greater rates of personal alcohol abuse, parental alcohol abuse, and victimization than the nonbingeing obese (NBO) in our sample. Further studies of the OBE population are recommended.