Longitudinal Bi-directional Effects of Disordered Eating, Depression and Anxiety

Francis Puccio; Matthew Fuller-Tyszkiewicz; George Youssef; Sarah Mitchell; Michelle Byrne; Nick Allen; Isabel Krug

doi:10.1002/erv.2525

Longitudinal Bi-directional Effects of Disordered Eating, Depression and Anxiety

Eur Eat Disord Rev. 2017 Sep;25(5):351-358. doi: 10.1002/erv.2525. Epub 2017 Jun 1.

Authors

Francis Puccio¹, Matthew Fuller-Tyszkiewicz², George Youssef², Sarah Mitchell³, Michelle Byrne⁴, Nick Allen⁴, Isabel Krug¹

Affiliations

¹ School of Psychological Sciences, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
² School of Psychology, Deakin University, Geelong, Victoria, Australia.
³ School of Psychology, Australian Catholic University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
⁴ Department of Psychology, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, USA.

PMID: 28568971
DOI: 10.1002/erv.2525

Abstract

Objective: The present study aims to explore the potentially longitudinal bi-directional effects of disordered eating (DE) symptoms with depression and anxiety.

Method: Participants were 189 (49.5% male) adolescents from Melbourne, Australia. DE, depressive and anxiety symptoms were assessed at approximately 15, 16.5 and 18.5 years of age.

Results: Analysis of longitudinal bi-directional effects assessed via cross-lagged models indicated that DE symptoms of eating and shape/weight concerns were risk factors for anxiety. Results also showed that depression was a risk factor for eating concerns.

Conclusion: Our findings provide preliminary evidence that preventative measures designed to target concerns about eating and shape/weight might be most efficacious in reducing the transmission of effects between symptoms of DE, depression and anxiety. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and Eating Disorders Association.

Keywords: anxiety symptoms; depressive symptoms; disordered eating; longitudinal.

MeSH terms

Adolescent
Anxiety / epidemiology*
Australia / epidemiology
Depression / epidemiology*
Feeding and Eating Disorders / epidemiology
Feeding and Eating Disorders / psychology*
Female
Humans
Longitudinal Studies
Male
Risk Factors