Weight concerns influence the development of eating disorders: A 4-year prospective study.

• DOI: 10.1037/0022-006x.64.5.936
• Publication Date: 2005-09-22T14:02:26Z
• Authors: Joel D. Killen; C. Barr Taylor; Chris Hayward; K. Farish Haydel; Darrell M. Wilson; Larry Hammer; Helena Kraemer; Anne Blair-Greiner; Diane Strachowski
• Keywords: Feeding and Eating Disorders; Anorexia Nervosa; Adolescent; Personality Inventory; Risk Factors; Body Weight; Body Image; Humans; Female; Prospective Studies; Bulimia; Follow-Up Studies

The authors examined factors prospectively associated with age of onset of partial syndrome eating disorders over a 4-year interval in a community sample (N = 877) of high school-age adolescent girls. Four percent developed a partial syndrome eating disorder over the interval. A measure of weight concerns was significantly associated with onset in a multivariate Cox proportional hazard analysis (p < .001). Girls scoring in the highest quartile on the measure of weight concerns had the highest incidence (10%) of partial syndrome onset, whereas none of the girls in the lowest quartile developed eating disorder symptoms. This finding is consistent with both theoretical and clinical perspectives and may represent a useful step toward the establishment of a rational basis for the choice of a prevention intervention target.