Browsing by Author "Tanninen, Anu"

Goals: Eating disorder symptoms are relatively common in adolescence. Recognizing and early clinical intervention of partial and subthreshold symptoms is important, because they are associated with functional impairment and distress and may progress to fully fledged eating disorders. Body dissatisfaction is one of the main symptoms of and also a significant risk factor for eating disorders. Extensive research has been done to examine how body dissatisfaction predicts eating disorders in adults, but knowledge of these associations in childhood and adolescence is scarce. More advanced stage of puberty has been associated with higher risk for eating pathology, but little is known about how pubertal stage affects the association between body dissatisfaction and eating disorder symptoms. The goal of this study is to explore if body dissatisfaction early in adolescence predicts eating disorder symptoms (drive for thinness, body dissatisfaction, bulimic symptoms) later in adolescence and how pubertal stage moderates this association. Methods: The data this study used was from Finnish birth cohort Glycyrrhizin in Licorice Study (Glaku). Altogether 145 adolescents estimated their body dissatisfaction (Kids´ Eating disorders survey, KEDS) at the age of 12 and completed eating disorder symptoms related questionnaire (Eating Disorder Inventory 2, EDI-2) at the age of 17. Stage of puberty was assessed at 12 years of age using Tanner pictures. The associations between body dissatisfaction and eating disorder symptoms were analyzed with linear and logistic regression. Results and conclusions: High body dissatisfaction in early adolescence was associated with more drive for thinness and body dissatisfaction in late adolescence. Although gender did not moderate the association between body dissatisfaction and eating disorder symptoms, in accordance with the results of previous studies, associations were explicit only in girls. Furthermore, even moderate body dissatisfaction in early adolescence predicted clinically significant drive for thinness in late adolescence. More advanced stage of puberty strengthened the association between body dissatisfaction in early adolescence and bulimic symptoms in late adolescence. However, future research is needed to assess the effect of puberty on associations between body dissatisfaction and eating disorder symptoms in separate models for boys and girls. The results of this study indicated that, to prevent eating disorders, support should targeted to girls, to adolescents with even moderate body dissatisfaction and, as for bulimic symptoms, to those in advanced pubertal development.