Overeating and binge eating in emerging adulthood: 10-year stability and risk factors

Overeating (eating an unusually large amount of food) and binge eating (overeating with loss of control [LOC]) predict adverse health consequences in adolescence. We aimed to characterize the stability of and risk factors for these distinct but interrelated constructs during critical developmental transitions. We used a population-based sample (n = 1,902) that completed surveys at 5-year intervals spanning adolescence and young adulthood. The trajectories of no overeating, overeating, binge eating, and binge eating disorder (BED; recurrent binge eating with associated distress) were characterized using cross-tabulations. Body mass index, depressive symptoms, self-esteem, and body satisfaction were examined as risk factors for no overeating, overeating, and binge eating (including BED) 5-years later using multinomial logistic regression. We found that all overeating categories tended to remit to no overeating at 5-year follow-up. Although overeating had the lowest remittance rates at each time-point, binge eating and BED showed higher rates of persistence or worsening of symptoms during the transition from late adolescence/early young adulthood to early/middle young adulthood. Overeating and binge eating had similar risk factors, although for females, depressive symptoms, body satisfaction, and self-esteem in late adolescence/early young adulthood differentially predicted binge eating versus overeating in early/middle young adulthood (ps < .05). While overeating with or without LOC tends to remit over time, problematic eating persists for a subset of individuals. Greater psychosocial problems in late adolescence/early young adulthood predicted greater odds of binge eating relative to overeating in early/middle young adulthood among females, indicating that poorer psychosocial functioning in this developmental stage portends more severe eating-related psychopathology later in life.