Cohabitation reduces bulimic symptoms in young women

Impact of parenthood on eating pathology in young adults

OBJECTIVE

Few studies investigated parenthood as a predictor of eating pathology in young adulthood. We studied the association between parenthood, in the first year after becoming a parent and beyond, and eating pathology. Furthermore, we examined whether moving in together with a partner affected this association.

METHOD

This study used data of four measurement waves from TRAILS (Tracking Adolescents' Individual Lives Survey), a Dutch community cohort study (N = 2229) from preadolescence into young adulthood. The Eating Disorder Diagnostic Scale (EDDS), a measure to assess eating pathology, was assessed at ages 22, 26, and 29. Risk for eating disorder was assessed at age 19. Pregnant participants were excluded.

RESULTS

Parenthood was not associated with an increase of eating pathology in the first year after becoming a parent and beyond. Instead, parents were more likely to report being free from eating pathology symptoms compared to childless individuals (OR 2.07, 95% CI: 1.11-3.84). Among those who reported experiencing at least one eating problem, parenthood was not associated with the number of eating problems. Moving in together with a partner did not alter the association between parenthood and eating problems and neither did this association differ between males and females.

DISCUSSION

Parenthood in young adulthood was associated with a decreased risk of having eating pathology.

PUBLIC SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT

In this longitudinal study among young adults, parenthood was not associated with the development of eating pathology.

Prospective associations between loneliness and disordered eating from early adolescence to adulthood

OBJECTIVE

Despite findings from numerous cross-sectional studies suggesting a substantial association between loneliness and different types of disordered eating, much remains unknown about the impact of confounding, the order of cause and effect, and gender differences in the relationship. Thus, this study followed a large, population-based, mixed-gender sample through adolescence and young adulthood, applying a random intercept cross-lagged panel model (RI-CLPM) approach to examine the bidirectional prospective associations between loneliness and disordered eating while ruling out the effect of unmeasured time-invariant confounders.

METHOD

A Norwegian sample of N = 2933 adolescents (54.2% female) was examined across four time points (T1, M_age  = 15.44, grades 7-12; T2, M_age  = 16.93; T3, M_age  = 21.84; and T4, M_age  = 28.33) from 1992 to 2005 using RI-CLPMs for overall disordered eating and specific forms for disordered eating (dieting and bulimic symptoms). Multigroup structural equation models were used to assess gender differences.

RESULTS

For male participants, high levels of loneliness at T1 predicted more overall disordered eating and more dieting at T2. Meanwhile, among female participants, disordered eating and bulimic symptoms at T2 predicted more loneliness at T3, whereas loneliness at T3 predicted more disordered eating and bulimic symptoms at T4, and vice versa.

DISCUSSION

The findings suggest a pattern of bidirectional associations between loneliness and disordered eating that varies by time points, gender, and type of eating problem. Preventive interventions and treatment should consider social factors involved in the onset and maintenance of eating problems in male adolescents and young adult women.

PUBLIC SIGNIFICANCE

This study contributes to the existing knowledge by examining for the first time the dynamic nature of the association between loneliness and disordered eating while accounting for all time-invariant confounding. Our findings reveal a pattern of bidirectional associations between loneliness and disordered eating that appears to vary by developmental period, gender, and type of eating problem. Our findings suggest that social factors have to be taken into account when designing prevention strategies aimed at disordered eating.

Partners' experiences of living with a person with an eating disorder: A grounded theory study

AIM

To explore the experiences of intimate partners of people with an eating disorder.

DESIGN

Qualitative grounded theory study.

METHODS

In-depth interviews were conducted with 18 partners of people with an eating disorder from 2013-2016. Data were analysed using the principles of classic grounded theory including, concurrent data collection and analysis, theoretical sampling, constant comparative analysis and memo writing.

RESULTS

Partners encounter disruptions to their lives when their significant other experiences an eating disorder. As a result, partners engage in a four-stage cyclical process involving: encountering a disruption; becoming an informed self; countering the disruption and reclaimed livability. By engaging in this process partners learn to support their significant other, remain committed to the relationship and recover their own lives. The process is drawn together and defined as the theory of 'Reconstructing Livability'.

CONCLUSION

The theory of 'Reconstructing Livability' provides a unique conceptualization of the experiences of partners who are living with a person with an eating disorder. It highlights the challenges faced by partners when supporting the recovery of their significant other and the intimate relationship, while reclaiming their own lives.

IMPACT

This study addresses the dearth of knowledge and understanding of partners' experiences. Partners engage in a process to enable them support recovery of their significant other and their own lives, but this is hindered by the challenges and unmet needs they experience. The theory provides a basis on which nurses can provide effective and timely supports to partners.

The development of bulimic symptoms from adolescence to young adulthood in females and males: a population-based longitudinal cohort study

OBJECTIVE

To investigate age-related trends in bulimic symptoms and associated putative risk factors among Norwegian youth.

METHOD

A sample of 3,150 participants, 1,421 (45.1%) males and 1,759 (54.9%) females, was prospectively followed for 11 years at three time points from adolescence to adulthood. Linear random coefficient models were applied.

RESULTS

For females, bulimic symptoms increased from age 14 to 16 and declined slowly thereafter. For males, the symptoms decreased between ages 14 and 16 and returned in the early 20s. Females had higher levels of symptoms than males at every age. Age-associated trends in body mass index, appearance satisfaction, and symptoms of anxiety and depression were associated with some of the trends for both genders. For females, changes in alcohol consumption and cohabitation status functioned as predictors as well.

DISCUSSION

Males and females show distinct developmental trajectories of bulimic symptoms during adolescence and in the transition to adulthood. Prevention interventions should focus on putative risk factors in mid-adolescence for females and in the early 20s for males.

Binge eating, purging and non-purging compensatory behaviours decrease from adolescence to adulthood: A population-based, longitudinal study

BACKGROUND

Subclinical forms of eating disorders (ED) are highly prevalent, but relatively little is known about age trends, gender differences and distinctions among symptoms. This study investigates age trends and gender difference in binge eating, purging and non-purging compensatory behaviours (CB) and the relationship of such behaviours to psychosocial problems.

METHODS

Data from the national representative longitudinal study "Young in Norway" (ages 14-34 years) were analysed using χ(2) tests, logistic random intercept models and analyses of covariance.

RESULTS

For both genders, a decrease was found in the prevalence of CB from age 14-16 years to 23 years and over. For binging, however, a significant decrease was found only for females, whose binge eating also declined more markedly over time than did males'. A significant gender difference was detected for purging, with females at higher risk. Purging was related to particularly serious symptoms of psychosocial problems: Those who purged had significantly higher levels of appearance dissatisfaction, anxiety and depressive symptoms, alcohol consumption, self-concept instability and loneliness than those with symptoms of other forms of disordered eating.

CONCLUSIONS

Individuals affected by purging need to be targeted as a high-risk group. The distinction in severity among the subclinical ED may indicate the need for the reformulation of the eating disorder not otherwise specified category in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-V.

Pathways from parental knowledge and warmth to adolescent marijuana use: an extension to the theory of planned behavior

Despite research indicating that effective parenting plays an important protective role in adolescent risk behaviors, few studies have applied theory to examine this link with marijuana use, especially with national data. In the current study (N = 2,141), we hypothesized that parental knowledge (of adolescent activities and whereabouts) and parental warmth are antecedents of adolescents' marijuana beliefs-attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control-as posited by the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB; Ajzen 1991). These three types of beliefs were hypothesized to predict marijuana intention, which in turn was hypothesized to predict marijuana consumption. Results of confirmatory factor analyses corroborated the psychometric properties of the two-factor parenting structure as well as the five-factor structure of the TPB. Further, the proposed integrative predictive framework, estimated with a latent structural equation model, was largely supported. Parental knowledge inversely predicted pro-marijuana attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control; parental warmth inversely predicted pro-marijuana attitudes and subjective norms, ps < .001. Marijuana intention (p < .001), but not perceived behavioral control, predicted marijuana use 1 year later. In households with high parental knowledge, parental warmth also was perceived to be high (r = .54, p < .001). Owing to the analysis of nationally representative data, results are generalizable to the United States population of adolescents 12-18 years of age.

The impact of becoming a mother on eating problems

OBJECTIVE

This study examines the relationship between becoming a mother and changes in eating problems.

METHOD

A sample of 1,206 initially childless Norwegian women was followed over a six-year period and growth curve analyses were conducted.

RESULTS

Participants who became mothers over the course of the study showed a greater reduction in eating problems compared to still childless women. This relationship could be explained by a corresponding decrease in alcohol usage and impulsiveness in mothers compared to childless women. At the same time, appearance satisfaction increased comparatively less in mothers, resulting in turn in a reduction of the effect of motherhood on changes in eating problems.

CONCLUSION

The results of this study indicate that motherhood has on the whole a positive effect on eating problems.