A 4-Year Longitudinal Investigation of the Processes by Which Parents and Peers Influence the Development of Early Adolescent Girls’ Bulimic Symptoms

Abstract

Bulimic symptoms are fairly common among adolescent girls, and the dual pathway model outlines one possible etiological chain leading to bulimic symptoms. The present study seeks to longitudinally examine the pathways proposed by this model while focusing on the relative contribution of parents and peers (via direct encouragement or pressure to be thin and indirect discussion of dieting). Four years of self-report data were collected from 85 early adolescent girls during fifth through eighth grades. Results indicated that mothers, fathers, and peers each played an important role in the development of girls’ bulimic symptoms by affecting their body dissatisfaction, which was related to later dieting behaviors, depressive symptoms, and bulimic symptoms. Furthermore, results suggested that peers were a stronger influence than mothers and fathers. The authors conclude that both parents and peers play important roles in girls’ development of bulimic symptoms, and future work should especially include peers.