Abstract
Eating disorder symptomatology is highly prevalent in adolescence and is regarded one of the most important precursors of clinical eating disorders. The present longitudinal study examined the development of eating disorder symptomatology in adolescents over two years. At Time 1,528 high school students filled out self-report questionnaires (50.5% female; Mage = 15 years). Multivariate latent growth curve modeling and latent class growth analyses were performed to model latent trajectories and to identify latent trajectory classes. Stable trajectories of drive for thinness and body dissatisfaction were found, whereas bulimia and BMI increased over time. Important gender differences pointed to girls experiencing more eating disorder symptoms at each time point. Additionally, more diverse trajectory classes were found in girls than in boys. Finally, classes with the most eating disorder symptoms also experienced the most problems in identity development, internalizing symptoms, and the least effortful control. The present study underscores the importance of identifying vulnerable adolescents that experience greater eating disorder symptomatology, as they also seem to experience the worst psychosocial development.
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Notes
More information can be obtained from the first author.
Details about all specific models that were tested in this study (which parameters were included and/or constrained), can be requested from the first author.
When conducting the LGC model with BMI, a significant increase can be found in both girls and boys (Interceptgirls = 19.85, Slopegirls = 0.63, Interceptboys = 19.65, Slopeboys = 0.63), mirroring earlier research (Bucchianeri et al. 2013).
Virtually the same latent classes emerged in girls and boys when including BMI instead of adjusted BMI. More information can be requested from the first author.
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Acknowledgements
Margaux Verschueren has a Ph.D. Fellowship of the Research Foundation-Flanders. The authors thank the high school students for participating in the study.
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Margaux Verschueren has a Ph.D. fellowship of the Research Foundation—Flanders (1125918N).
Authors’ Contributions
M.V. conceived of the study, participated in its design and coordination, performed the statistical analyses, and drafted the manuscript; L.C. collected the data of the present study, conceived of the study, participated in its design and coordination and drafted the manuscript; N.P. participated in the design of the manuscript and helped drafting it; A.B. participated in the design of the manuscript and helped drafting it; A.G. collected the data of the present study; P.M. participated in the design of the manuscript and helped drafting it; K.L. conceived of the study, participated in its design and coordination, performed the statistical analyses, and drafted the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Verschueren, M., Claes, L., Palmeroni, N. et al. Eating Disorder Symptomatology in Adolescent Boys and Girls: Identifying Distinct Developmental Trajectory Classes. J Youth Adolescence 49, 410–426 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-019-01174-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-019-01174-0