Ten-year stability and predictive validity of five bulimia-related indicators

Abstract

Objective: The authors examined the temporal stability and predictive utility of bulimic symptoms and related variables over the course of 10 years, from 1982 to 1992. Method: The subjects were 459 women who were aged 18-22 years in 1982 and were surveyed in both 1982 and 1992 F or a number of reasons, long-term stability and predictive utility of symptom-related variables are important to establish. First, temporal stability bears on the basic reliability of tests and has import for the nature of the construct being measured-if the construct is thought to be a stable characteristic, high temporal stability would be expected. When the variable in question is symptom-or syndrome-related, high temporal stability has implications for the symptom's or syndrome's course; that is, high temporal stability suggests either a chronic or recurrent course. In addition, when the construct in question is used as an outcome measure to assess an intervention (e.g., when symptom change in response to treatment is measured), it is useful to know whether and how much change in the variable would be expected even without intervention. Finally, predictive utility is useful with regard to factors that may represent risks for later symptoms, as well as prognostic indicators of response to treatment.With a few exceptions, the temporal stability and predictive validity of bulimia-related variables have received little empirical attention, especially regarding long-term time frames. Wear and Pratz (1) reported test-retest data for the subscales of the Eating Disorders Inventory, obtaining scores for 70 undergraduates at the beginning and end of a 3-week interval. The test-retest coefficients (r) were above 0.80 for all subscales (bulimia, body dissatisfaction, drive for thinness, perfectionism, interoceptive awareness, interpersonal distrust, ineffectiveness) except maturity fears, for which a coefficient of 0.65 was obtained. Crowther et al. (2) conducted a study on the 1-year stability of the Eating Disorders Inventory in a relatively large sample of undergraduate women (N=282). In this study, maturity fears again displayed relatively low stability (r=0.48), especially among subjects who reported eating problems (r=0.26). These researchers also found relatively low stability for the bulimia subscale (r=0.44), especially among subjects who reported eating problems (r=0.22). This result contrasts with the 3-week test-retest correlation of 0.90 for the bulimia subscale reported by Wear and Pratz (1). Fallon et al. (3) reported that 41% of women who had been previously hospitalized for bulimia nervosa met the criteria for the disorder when assessed 2 to 9 years later. Thus, the stability of

Long‐term outcome of inpatients with bulimia nervosa—Results from the Christina Barz Study

“…Steinhausen and Weber (2009) Another predictor of poor ED outcome in our study was a higher EDI drive for thinness score (OR = 1.05). In a student sample, a significant correlation between drive for thinness score and the diagnostic symptoms for bulimia 10 years later was reported (Joiner, Heatherton, & Keel, 1997). Our result is also in accordance with results on a similar score: Lower weight/shape concerns (Vall & Wade, 2015) and lower eating/weight concerns (Castellini et al, 2011) predicted better outcome at follow-up.…”

Eating Disorder Behaviors Are Increasing: Findings from Two Sequential Community Surveys in South Australia

“…Notable strengths of the present study were the standardized and rigorous survey methods, including random selection and interview assessment, the good response rates, wide age range and inclusion of both genders. Previous studies have been limited by the use of general practice databases [16] , [17] or student samples [18] , [25] .…”

Dieting and Disordered Eating Behaviors from Adolescence to Young Adulthood: Findings from a 10-Year Longitudinal Study

“…For example, in a population-based sample of Canadian adolescents, Woodruff and colleagues found that overall dietary quality was lower among youth who were dieting and had weight concerns, as compared to those not dieting and not weight concerned (2). Furthermore, dieting and disordered eating behaviors have been found to predict a number of problematic outcomes including increased risk for weight gain (4–8), obesity (6–8), and eating disorders (9–12) in adolescents (4, 6, 7, 12) and young adults (5, 12, 13). For example, in an analysis from an earlier study wave on the population participating in the current study, we found that adolescents engaging in dieting and those reporting unhealthy weight control behaviors were at two to three times greater risk for being overweight five years later, as compared to adolescents who did not engage in these behaviors at baseline (8).…”