Risk Factors for Disordered Eating During Early and Middle Adolescence: A Two Year Longitudinal Study of Mainland Chinese Boys and Girls

Abstract

Even though reliable eating disorder risk factors have been identified among adolescent girls, little is known about predictors of increased vulnerability within specific phases of adolescence or among adolescent boys, particularly in highly populated non-Western contexts. In this study, early and middle adolescent boys (n = 1,271) and girls (n = 1,415) from Chongqing, China completed validated measures of eating disorder pathology and putative risk factors at baseline and 2 years follow-up. Multivariate models for boys of each age group indicated increases in disordered eating at follow-up were predicted by higher initial body mass index, negative affect and body dissatisfaction levels as well as attendant increases in perceived appearance pressure from mass media, body dissatisfaction, negative affect between assessments. High baseline levels of reported appearance pressure from parents and dating partners contributed, respectively, to prediction models of younger and older boys. More distinct constellations of significant predictors emerged in multivariate models of early versus middle adolescent girls. Together, findings indicated body dissatisfaction and negative affect were fairly robust risk factors for exacerbations in disturbances across samples while risk factors such as perceived pressure from desired/prospective dating partners were salient only during particular phases of adolescence.

Attention Disengagement Difficulties among Average Weight Women Who Binge Eat

“…A back‐translated version of the EDDS has been found to be reliable and valid in epidemiological and longitudinal studies of mainland Chinese adolescents and young adults (e.g. Chen & Jackson, ; Jackson & Chen, , , , ). An overall symptom composite calculated from the sum of z‐scores for the first 18 EDDS items also provided a severity rating.…”

A Pilot Study to Assess Emotional Distress and Quality of Life among Transgenders in South India

“…Specific risk factors for EDs include being female [25,37] living in a western culture which idolises thinness in women, body dissatisfaction, increased body weight, increased Body Mass Index (BMI), dieting, body dissatisfaction, an internalised thin ideal, negative affect including depression and low self-esteem [25,[38][39][40] and poor family functioning [41]. A number of studies also explore the effect of biological factors such as genetics [25].…”

“Our daily life was mainly comprised of eating and sitting:” a qualitative analysis of adolescents’ experiences of inpatient eating disorder treatment in China

“…One key limitation of the current literature is that research on the experience of inpatient treatment is restricted to these western countries, perhaps because erroneously, it was once thought that EDs were culturally bound [19]. Therefore, little is known about experiences of inpatient treatment for EDs in countries such as China, which, hosting the world's largest population, has a developing literature on the prominence of eating difficulties [20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27]. Indeed, although under-researched relative to western countries, EDs are becoming formidable public health challenges in China [28], showing significant increases in prevalence, with similar rates to the west [28][29][30], with which China shares thinness as a desirable trait [31].…”