The relation between Bulimic symptoms and the social withdrawal syndrome during early adolescence

The short-term longitudinal study tested the hypothesis that there was a prospective relation between the social withdrawal syndrome and Bulimic symptoms during early adolescence.

Ninety-six adolescents (47 males, mean age=13 years - 10 months) completed standardized scales assessing Bulimic symptoms, trust beliefs in others and loneliness at Time 1/T1 and again 5 months later at Time 2/T2.

Analyses showed that: (1) Bulimic symptoms were negatively correlated with trust beliefs, (2) Bulimic symptoms were positively correlated with loneliness, and (3) trust beliefs were negatively correlated with loneliness. The SEM and mediation analyses showed that trust beliefs at T1 were negatively and concurrently associated with Bulimic symptoms at T1 and longitudinally (and negatively) predicted changes in Bulimic symptoms. It was found that loneliness at T1 statistically mediated those concurrent and longitudinal relations.

The findings yielded support for the conclusion that the social withdrawal syndrome, as assessed by low trust beliefs and resulting experiences of loneliness, contributes to Bulimia nervosa during early adolescence.