Are eating and psychosocial characteristics in early teenage years useful predictors of eating characteristics in early adulthood? A 7-year longitudinal study
✍ Scribed by Calam, Rachel ;Waller, Glenn
- Publisher
- Wiley (John Wiley & Sons)
- Year
- 1998
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 145 KB
- Volume
- 24
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0276-3478
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
Objectives: This longitudinal research aimed to determine the utility of psychosocial and eating characteristics in early teenage years in predicting eating attitudes and behaviors in early adulthood. Method: Self-esteem, perfectionism, family function, and eating attitudes were measured at 12 years and eating attitudes and behavior were assessed at 19 years. Sixty-three women (71.6%) remained in the study over the 7 years. Results: Bulimic attitudes in early teenage years were related to subsequent bulimic features, while restrictive attitudes were more closely related to later purging behaviors. Self-esteem and perfectionism were only weakly linked with subsequent eating. However, different perceived family characteristics at the first stage were associated with specific aspects of eating in early adulthood. Conclusions: There is consistency of eating characteristics across time, but psychosocial characteristics have a more limited predictive power. Future longitudinal studies should begin earlier in childhood if psychosocial factors are to be useful predictors of eating psychopathology in adulthood.