Abstract
Eating pathology and depressive symptoms increase during adolescence, yet predictive pathways remain predominantly unexplored, despite their implications for prevention. The present study aimed to identify shared risk factors for eating pathology and depressive symptoms by evaluating an adapted Dual-Pathway Model of disordered eating, which postulated that higher BMI would predict disordered eating and depressive symptoms via pathways between body dissatisfaction, later BMI, depressive symptoms, and visible indicators of puberty (breast development for girls, height for boys). The participants were 8915 children (49% girls) from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children, a population-based cohort study of British children, who were assessed at different intervals between the age of 7 to 14 years. Path analyses revealed that, for girls, childhood BMI exerted indirect effects on disordered eating via body dissatisfaction, depressive symptoms, and more advanced breast development, with indirect pathways identified to depressive symptoms via earlier depressive symptoms and more advanced breast development. For boys, childhood BMI had indirect effects on disordered eating via later BMI and body dissatisfaction, while only earlier depressive symptoms were found to have an independent and direct effect on adolescent depressive symptoms. This study reveals shared and independent risk factors for eating pathology and depressive symptoms in adolescence and suggests targets for preventative interventions, including higher BMI, body dissatisfaction, and depressive symptoms, in addition to advanced breast development, for girls.
Highlights
Research indicates that eating pathology and depressive symptoms increase during adolescence (Goldschmidt et al 2016)
Puberty has emerged as a risk factor for eating pathology and depressive symptoms (Lewis et al 2018), yet research has neglected the individual impact of externally visible pubertal indicators, including breast development for girls and height for boys, which may elicit social reactions that have an adverse impact on the individual
Symptoms of eating pathology and depression have been found to increase during adolescence
Summary
Research indicates that eating pathology and depressive symptoms increase during adolescence (Goldschmidt et al 2016). Disordered eating and depressive symptoms often co-occur in adolescence (Goldschmidt et al 2016), which suggests the likelihood of common underlying causes. Researchers have called for the examination of how independently studied risk factors interrelate with one another to foster eating pathology and depressive symptoms (Ferreiro et al 2012), and have recommended targeting shared risk factors for these outcomes in public health interventions (Becker et al 2014). The present study aimed to identify common childhood predictors, in order to inform the development of early, efficacious and costeffective interventions to simultaneously prevent depressive symptoms and disordered eating
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