Objective-Previous research has shown important developmental shifts in genetic and environmental influences for disordered eating. However, little research has examined age differences for weight/shape concerns, two key components of eating disorders. The goal of the present study was to investigate these age differences in pre-adolescent, adolescent, young adult, and mid-adult twins.Method-Participants included 2,618 female twins (ages of 10-41 years) from three large twin registries. Shape and weight concerns were assessed with the Eating Disorders Examination Questionnaire.Results-Genetic influences were modest in pre-adolescent twins, but significant from earlyadolescence through middle adulthood. Shared environmental factors showed the opposite pattern, with the largest shared environmental contributions occurring in the youngest age group. Nonshared environmental effects remained relatively constant across age.Discussion-Findings highlight the importance of age differences in genetic and environmental influences. Possible mechanisms include gene × environment interactions and biological changes associated with key developmental stages.Twin studies have suggested that anorexia nervosa (AN), bulimia nervosa (BN), and eating disorders not otherwise specified (e.g., binge eating disorder) [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9] are moderately heritable in adulthood. However, heritability for disordered eating symptoms (e.g., weight preoccupation, binge eating, compensatory behaviors) is unlikely to be stable over the lifetime. Disordered eating shows important developmental shifts in etiologic influences across adolescence, with increasing genetic and decreasing shared environmental influences. For example, cross-sectional and longitudinal studies have shown lower heritability of overall levels of disordered eating symptoms (i.e., levels of binge eating, compensatory behaviors, weight preoccupation) in pre-and early adolescent twins as compared to twins in middle and late adolescence [4,10,11]. Moreover, longitudinal data suggest that there are no new genetic factors influencing general disordered eating symptoms from age 14 through age 18 [10]. Explanations for these developmental shifts have frequently focused on puberty, where analyses from two twin registries (MTFS) [12] (Michigan State University Twin Registry; MSUTR) [13] suggest that puberty moderates genetic effects on disordered eating, with no Despite this emphasis, few studies have examined age differences in genetic and environmental influences for these symptoms. Initial research comparing genetic and environmental effects across age suggested low heritability of weight concerns in pre-adolescent twins [4] but significant heritability (>50%) in adolescent twins [4]. This general pattern has been replicated in studies examining one age group only, which tend to show moderate heritability of weight and/or shape concerns in late adolescence and young adulthood [23][24][25]. However, others have found lower heritability of weight and shape concerns and r...

In this open-label trial, baclofen was associated with decreased binge eating frequency in patients with BED and BN.

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Few studies have examined nonshared environmental risk factors for disordered eating, and none have done so using a longitudinal design. The current project employed a longitudinal, monozygotic twin differences design to examine parent-child conflict as a nonshared environmental risk factor for disordered eating. Participants included 468 monozygotic female twins (234 pairs) from the Minnesota Twin Family Study, followed every three years from ages 11 to 17. Twin differences in disordered eating were assessed with the Total Score, Body Dissatisfaction, Weight Preoccupation and Binge Eating subscales of the Minnesota Eating Behavior Survey. Differences in parent-child conflict were assessed with the Parental Environment Questionnaire. Cross-lagged models were used to examine longitudinal associations among these variables, controlling for within-age associations. Only the longitudinal association between twin differences in disordered eating at age 14 and differences in parent-child conflict at age 17 was significant; twin differences in disordered eating predicted later differences in parent-child conflict rather than the reverse. Findings suggest differences in parent-child conflict between genetically identical twins may be a consequence of, rather than a risk factor for, differences in disordered eating.

General weight and shape concerns and the undue influence of these concerns on self-evaluation are influenced by genetic factors in young adult female twins.