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Giles S, Hughes EK, Castle D, Jenkins Z, Phillipou A, Rossell S, Urbini G, Fuller-Tyszkiewicz M, Krug I. A new network analysis model in anorexia nervosa patients based on self-reported eating disorder symptoms, psychological distress, and cognitive flexibility. BRITISH JOURNAL OF CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY 2024; 63:118-134. [PMID: 38071465 DOI: 10.1111/bjc.12451] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/28/2023] [Revised: 10/30/2023] [Accepted: 11/29/2023] [Indexed: 02/09/2024]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES Cognitive flexibility and psychological distress, such as depression and anxiety, have been implicated in the aetiology of Anorexia Nervosa (AN). Despite the known associations between eating disorder (ED) symptoms, depression, anxiety, and cognitive flexibility, the specific pathways that connect these constructs are unclear. We therefore used network analysis to examine the relationship between these symptoms in an AN sample. METHODS One hundred and ninety-three treatment-seeking individuals diagnosed with AN (95.6% female, M = 26.89 [SD = 9.45] years old) completed self-report measures assessing depression, anxiety, cognitive flexibility, and ED symptoms. To determine each symptom's influence in the network, we calculated the expected influence. RESULTS The two relationships with the greatest edges were those between (1) weight/shape concerns and eating/dietary restraint and (2) weight/shape concerns and psychological distress (a measure that combined depression and anxiety). Cognitive flexibility was not connected to weight/shape concerns but had negative partial associations with eating concerns/dietary restraint and psychological distress. There was also a slight, non-zero connection between eating concerns/dietary restraint and psychological distress. CONCLUSIONS The findings underscore the importance of weight/shape, eating/dietary concerns, and psychological distress in the AN network and suggest that addressing cognitive flexibility may be a useful target for eating concerns/dietary restraint and psychological distress. Future studies assessing the longitudinal course of psychopathology within the AN network structure may help in identifying whether specific symptoms function as risk factors or maintaining factors for this co-occurrence.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sarah Giles
- Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
| | - Elizabeth K Hughes
- Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
- Department of Paediatrics, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
- Murdoch Children's Research Institute, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
| | - David Castle
- Centre for Mental Health Service Innovation, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia
| | - Zoe Jenkins
- Department of Mental Health, St Vincent's Hospital, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
- Iverson Institute, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
- Department of Psychiatry, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
| | - Andrea Phillipou
- Department of Mental Health, St Vincent's Hospital, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
- Orygen, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
- Centre for Youth Mental Health, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
- Department of Psychological Sciences, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
| | - Susan Rossell
- Department of Mental Health, St Vincent's Hospital, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
- Centre for Mental Health, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
| | - Gemma Urbini
- Body Image & Eating Disorders Treatment & Recovery Service, St Vincent's Hospital, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
| | - Matthew Fuller-Tyszkiewicz
- School of Psychology, Deakin University, Geelong, Victoria, Australia
- Centre for Social and Early Emotional Development, Deakin University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
| | - Isabel Krug
- Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
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