Convergence in maternal and child reports of impulsivity, depressive symptoms, and trait anxiety, and their predictive utility for binge-eating behaviors

An investigation of associations between parenting and binge eating across pubertal development in pre-adolescent and adolescent female participants

OBJECTIVE

Puberty is a period of increased risk for the development of binge eating in female adolescents. Although developmental changes in autonomy-seeking behaviors and body weight and shape may influence both parenting styles and binge eating during puberty, studies have yet to examine how parenting practices may be differentially associated with youth outcomes depending on developmental stage. The current study examines whether interactions between puberty and parenting are associated with higher levels of binge-eating symptoms during/after puberty in female youth.

METHODS

Analyses used cross-sectional data from a previous study of disordered eating and puberty in 999 female youth (ages 8-16) and their parents from the Michigan State University Twin Registry. Youth self-reported binge eating, pubertal development, and perceived parental care and overprotection. Both parents and youth reported on parent-child conflict. Mixed linear models were used to examine whether pubertal development moderates the strength of associations between parenting (parent-child conflict, parental care, and parental overprotection) and offspring binge eating.

RESULTS

Although higher levels of parental overprotection and conflict, and lower levels of parental care were all significantly associated with binge eating, none of the associations were significantly moderated by pubertal development or age.

DISCUSSION

The quality of the parent-child relationship is significantly associated with binge eating in female youth regardless of developmental stage, highlighting the need for targeting harmful parenting strategies during adolescent eating disorder intervention.

PUBLIC SIGNIFICANCE

This is the first study to examine whether parenting/binge-eating associations in female participants differ across pubertal development. In a large population-based sample, we found lower parental care, higher parent-child conflict, and higher parental overprotection were all associated with higher levels of binge eating. Notably, associations did not differ across pubertal stage or age, suggesting that parenting is significantly associated with binge eating, regardless of developmental stage.

Exploring the possibility of parents' broad internalizing phenotype acting through passive gene-environment correlations on daughters' disordered eating

Twin studies demonstrate significant environmental influences and a lack of genetic effects on disordered eating before puberty in girls. However, genetic factors could act indirectly through passive gene-environment correlations (rGE; correlations between parents' genes and an environment shaped by those genes) that inflate environmental (but not genetic) estimates. The only study to explore passive rGE did not find significant effects, but the full range of parental phenotypes (e.g., internalizing symptoms) that could impact daughters' disordered eating was not examined. We addressed this gap by exploring whether parents' internalizing symptoms (e.g., anxiety, depressive symptoms) contribute to daughters' eating pathology through passive rGE. Participants were female twin pairs (aged 8-14 years; M = 10.44) in pre-early puberty and their biological parents (n = 279 families) from the Michigan State University Twin Registry. Nuclear twin family models explored passive rGE for parents' internalizing traits/symptoms and twins' overall eating disorder symptoms. No evidence for passive rGE was found. Instead, environmental factors that create similarities between co-twins (but not with their parents) and unique environmental factors were important. In pre-early puberty, genetic factors do not influence daughters' disordered eating, even indirectly through passive rGE. Future research should explore sibling-specific and unique environmental factors during this critical developmental period.

Context matters: Neighborhood disadvantage is associated with increased disordered eating and earlier activation of genetic influences in girls

Emerging evidence suggests socioeconomic disadvantage may increase risk for eating disorders (EDs). However, there are very few studies on the association between disadvantage and EDs, and all have focused on individual-level risk factors (e.g., family income). Neighborhood disadvantage (i.e., elevated poverty and reduced resources in one's neighborhood) is associated with increased risk for anxiety/depression and poor physical health. To date, no studies have examined phenotypic associations between neighborhood disadvantage and disordered eating, or how any form of disadvantage may interact with genetic individual differences in risk for EDs. We examined phenotypic and etiologic associations between neighborhood disadvantage and disordered eating in 2,922 girls ages 8-17 from same-sex twin pairs recruited through the Michigan State University Twin Registry. Parents rated the twins on nine items assessing core disordered eating symptoms (e.g., weight preoccupation, binge eating), and neighborhood disadvantage was calculated from 17 indicators of contextual disadvantage (e.g., median home value, neighborhood unemployment). Puberty was measured using the Pubertal Development Scale to examine whether associations were consistent across development. At a phenotypic level, greater neighborhood disadvantage was associated with significantly greater disordered eating symptoms in girls at all stages of puberty (β = .07). Moreover, Genotype × Environment models showed that girls living in more disadvantaged neighborhoods exhibited stronger and earlier (i.e., during pre/early puberty) activation of genetic influences on disordered eating. Results highlight the critical importance of considering contextual disadvantage in research on etiology and risk for disordered eating, and the need for increased screening and treatment for EDs in disadvantaged youth. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).