Personality Traits and Self-Injurious Behaviour in Patients with Eating Disorders Jennie Ahre ´n-Moonga 1,2 * , Sven Holmgren 1 , Lars von Knorring 1 and Britt af Klinteberg 2,3,4 1 Department of Neuroscience/Psychiatry, Uppsala University Hospital, Uppsala, Sweden 2 CHESS - Centre for health equity studies, Stockholm university/Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden 3 Department of Psychology, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden 4 Department of Woman and Child Health, Karolinska Institute, Sweden The interest in different aspects of personality and the neuropsy- chological basis for behaviour in eating disorder patients has increased over the last decade. The present study aims at exploring personality traits, self-injurious behaviour (SIB) and suicide attempts in a group of severely ill eating disorder patients. Patients with eating disorders (N ¼ 38) and age-matched controls (N ¼ 67) were examined concerning self-reported personality traits by means of the Karolinska scales of personality (KSP). Psychosocial history and SIB was collected from medical records. Depression was rated by means of the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). Results indicated significantly higher anxiety-related and detach- ment traits in both anorexia nervosa (AN) and bulimia nervosa (BN) patients and higher hostility in BN patients than controls. No specific personality traits could be defined as typical for self- injurious or suicidal behaviour. The AN group was lower than the BN group on scales measuring impulsivity, guilt and anxiety. Furthermore, presence of SIB and suicide attempts was more frequent among the BN patients. Copyright # 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and Eating Disorders Association. Keywords: eating disorders; self-injurious behaviour; personality traits; childhood background INTRODUCTION Certain personality traits have been described as typical for different types of eating disorders. Controlling food intake is described as a way of controlling a complex life situation (Fairburn, Cooper, Doll, & Welch, 1999). Other personality traits that have been defined as predisposing for anorexia nervosa (AN) are introversion, conformity, perfectionism and obsessive-compulsive behaviour (Bulik, Tozzi, Anderson, Mazzeo, Aggen, & Sulli- van, 2003; Fairburn et al., 1999; Halmi et al., 2000; Westen & Harnden-Fischer, 2001). In bulimia nervosa (BN) impulsivity, low self-esteem and anti-social personality traits have been demon- strated in several studies (Halmi et al., 2000; Westen & Harnden-Fischer, 2001; Wonderlich, 2002; Claes, Vandereycken, & Vertommen, 2005). The co-morbidity between eating disorders and personality disorders is high. Borderline and European Eating Disorders Review Eur. Eat. Disorders Rev. 16, 268–275 (2008) * Correspondence to: Jennie Ahre ´n-Moonga, CHESS, Sveava ¨- gen 160, SE-106 91 Stockholm. Tel: þ46(0)70 5282658. E-mail: jennie.ahren-moonga@chess.su.se Copyright # 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and Eating Disorders Association. Published online 31 January 2008 in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com) DOI: 10.1002/erv.860