One's expectancies for reinforcement from eating or from thinness are thought to represent summaries of one's eating-related learning history and to thus influence the development of binge-eating and purging behavior. In a 3-year longitudinal study, the authors tested this hypothesis and the hypothesis that binge eating also influences subsequent expectancy development. The authors used trajectory analysis to identify groups of middle school girls who followed different trajectories of binge eating, purging, eating expectancies, and thinness expectancies. Initial eating and thinness reinforcement expectancies identified girls whose binge eating and purging increased during middle school, and expectancies differentiated girls who began these problem behaviors from girls who did not. Initial binge-eating scores differentiated among eating expectancy developmental trajectories. The onset of most behaviors can be understood in terms of learned expectancies for reinforcement from these behaviors. The same model can be applied to the risk for eating disorders.

Results were consistent with prior work on college and clinical samples, thus supporting use of the expectancy measures with adolescents.

There was good evidence for the validity of the Family History Inventory. The theoretical implications of the mediation tests are discussed.

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The authors applied person-environment transaction theory to test the acquired preparedness model of eating disorder risk. The model holds that (a) middle school girls high in the trait of ineffectiveness are differentially prepared to acquire high risk expectancies for reinforcement from dieting/thinness; (b) those expectancies predict subsequent binge eating and purging; and (c) the influence of the disposition of ineffectiveness on binge eating and purging is mediated by dieting/thinness expectancies. In a three-wave longitudinal study of 394 middle school girls, they found support for the model. Seventh grade girls' scores on ineffectiveness predicted their subsequent endorsement of high risk dieting/thinness expectancies, which in turn predicted subsequent increases in binge eating and purging. Statistical tests of mediation supported the hypothesis that the prospective relation between ineffectiveness and binge eating was mediated by dieting/thinness expectancies, as was the prospective relation between ineffectiveness and purging. This application of a basic science theory to eating disorder risk appears fruitful, and the findings suggest the importance of early interventions that address both disposition and learning.The risk process for eating disorders can be understood as consisting of both dispositional characteristics of individuals and of learning processes that are specific to eating and dieting. Our intent with this paper is to test a model, adapted from the basic science literature on personenvironment transaction theory (Caspi, 1993), describing a transactional process between broad disposition and specific learning that influences eating disorder risk. In personenvironment transaction theory, learning is not just a function of experience; rather, one's dispositional characteristics help shape one's learning experiences, and one's learning in turn Correspondence concerning this article can be addressed to either Jessica L. Combs or Gregory T. Smith, both of whom are at the Department of Psychology, University of Kentucky. Their respective email addresses are combs.jess@gmail.com and gsmith@email.uky.edu. Publisher's Disclaimer: The following manuscript is the final accepted manuscript. It has not been subjected to the final copyediting, fact-checking, and proofreading required for formal publication. It is not the definitive, publisher-authenticated version. The American Psychological Association and its Council of Editors disclaim any responsibility or liabilities for errors or omissions of this manuscript version, any version derived from this manuscript by NIH, or other third parties. The published version is available at www.apa.org/journals/adb NIH Public Access Author ManuscriptPsychol Addict Behav. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2011 September 1. Published in final edited form as:Psychol Addict Behav. 2010 September ; 24(3): 475-486. doi:10.1037/a0018257. NIH-PA Author ManuscriptNIH-PA Author Manuscript NIH-PA Author Manuscript influences one's behavior. As a result, the inf...