As fans await the "Fifty Shades of Grey" movie, a new study reports finding a correlation between women who read the "Fifty Shades" trilogy and problems including being in an abusive relationship, eating disorders and binge drinking.

The study, titled "Fiction or Not? Fifty Shades is Associated with Health Risks in Adolescent and Young Adult Females" was led by a Michigan State University researcher and published Thursday in the Journal of Women's Health.

"It doesn't show whether reading 'Fifty Shades of Grey' causes the behaviors, or whether exhibiting the behaviors cause you to read 'Fifty Shades of Grey,' but that's inconsequential," Amy Bonomi, the study's lead researcher and chairperson and professor in MSU's Department of Human Development and Family Studies, told Yahoo Health.

According to the study, women who read all three books in E.L. James' erotic novel trilogy were more likely to have more than one sexual partner and binge drink.

"If women experienced adverse health behaviors such as disordered eating first, reading 'Fifty Shades' might reaffirm those experiences and potentially aggravate related trauma," Bonomi said in a statement.

Bonomi has previously studied the erotic novel series by E.L. James. She told Yahoo that she found it to be "normalizing and glamorizing violence against women."

"In a BDSM relationship, if there is any alcohol or substance abuse involved [as there is in the book], that essentially negates consent," she said.

Bonomi encourages everyone to be critical when consuming mass media.

"We recognize that the depiction of violence against women in and of itself is not problematic, especially if the depiction attempts to shed serious light on the problem," her statement continued. "The problem comes when the depiction reinforces the acceptance of the status quo, rather than challenging it."

The movie adaptation of "Fifty Shades of Grey" starring Jaime Dornan and Dakota Johnson hits theaters Feb. 13, 2015.

Follow Scharon Harding on Twitter: @ScharHar.

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