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Published on: May 19, 2015
Reciprocal longitudinal relations between weight/shape concern and comorbid pathology among women at very high risk
Ellen E Fitzsimmons-Craft1, Dawn M Eichen2, Andrea E Kass3
1Department of Psychiatry, Washington University School of Medicine, Campus Box 8134, 660 S. Euclid Ave., St. Louis, MO, 63110, USA. fitzsimmonscrafte@psychiatry.wustl.edu.
Purpose:
Understanding how known eating disorder (ED) risk factors change in relating to one another over time may inform efficient intervention targets. We examined short-term (i.e., 1 month) reciprocal longitudinal relations between weight/shape concern and comorbid symptoms (i.e., depressed mood, anxiety) and behaviors (i.e., binge drinking) over the course of 24 months using cross-lagged panel models.
Methods:
Participants were 185 women aged 18-25 years at very high risk for ED onset, randomized to an online ED preventive intervention or waitlist control. We also tested whether relations differed based on intervention receipt.
Results:
Weight/shape concern in 1 month significantly predicted depressed mood the following month; depressed mood in 1 month also predicted weight/shape concern the following month, but the effect size was smaller. Likewise, weight/shape concern in 1 month significantly predicted anxiety the following month, but the reverse was not true. Results showed no temporal relations between weight/shape concern and binge drinking in either direction. Relations between weight/shape concern, and comorbid symptoms and behaviors did not differ based on intervention receipt.
Conclusions:
Results support focusing intervention on reducing weight/shape concern over reducing comorbid constructs for efficient short-term change.
Level Of Evidence:
Level I, evidence obtained from a properly designed randomized controlled trial.
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