A longitudinal investigation of the impact of disordered eating on young women's quality of life.

Abstract

Objective: The extent to which subclinical levels of disordered eating affect quality of life (QOL) was assessed. Method: Four waves of self-report data from Survey 2 (S2) to 5 (S5) of a national longitudinal survey of young Australian women (N = 9,688) were used to assess the impact of any level of disordered eating at S2 on QOL over the following 9 years, and to evaluate any moderating effects of social support and of depression. Results: At baseline, 23% of the women exhibited some level of disordered eating, and they scored significantly lower on both the physical and the mental component scores of the SF-36 at every survey; differences in mental health were still clinically meaningful at S5. Social support and depressive symptoms each acted as a moderator of the mental component scores. Women with both disordered eating and low social support, or disordered eating and depression, had the worst initial scores; although they improved the most over time, they still had the lowest scores at S5. Higher social support at baseline resulted in women with disordered eating being largely indistinguishable from women without disordered eating who had low social support. Lower levels of depression resulted in women with disordered eating having a significantly better QOL than women with high levels of depression, regardless of eating status. Conclusions: This is the first study to examine the long-term impact of subclinical levels of disordered eating on QOL, and it suggests that even apparently minor levels of symptomatology are associated with significant and far-reaching deficits in well-being.

Eating disorder symptom trajectories in adolescence: effects of time, participant sex, and early adolescent depressive symptoms

“…Few studies have considered the developmental trajectory of eating disorder symptoms in males, but available data suggest that boys may show reductions in eating pathology from early adolescence to mid adolescence, and then experience an increase in symptoms in late adolescence or early adulthood [3,5,7,8]. Eating disorder symptoms are associated with impairments in quality of life even when full criteria for an eating disorder are not met [9-11]. This makes it important that they are considered in research on the epidemiology and consequences of eating disorder psychopathology.…”

The Relation Between Eating Disorder Symptoms and Impairment

“…1), finding evidence for complementary mediation in a sample of female university students. Complementary or competitive mediation in the presence of a significant direct effect suggests that other mediators may be present (Zhao et al, 2010); such variables might include personality traits (Fischer et al, 2007), anxiety, depression (Wade et al, 2012), employment status, and self-esteem (de la Rie et al, 2005).…”

“…A recent longitudinal study by Wade et al (2012) of a large community sample of Australian women found that even subclinical levels of symptoms are associated with lasting deficits in well-being. They found that disordered eating predicted later impairments in quality of life (QoL), spanning a period of 9 years, although it was not possible to assess what proportion (if any) of these women had received treatment.…”

“…Reducing impairment represents an important treatment aim , and therefore, greater knowledge of factors that reduce the impact of ED symptoms on impairment is an important goal (Wade et al, 2012). Recent research has also looked at the predictive effect of symptoms on QoL (Ackard et al, 2014), and therefore it may be useful for studies to include measures of both impairment and QoL when considering the effects of ED symptomatology.…”

Creando Posibilidades: A Cognitive Model of Risk Behaviors in Mexican American Women

“…The eating disorder diagnoses are based on specified levels of frequency and severity of disordered eating behaviors (DEB). However, erratic patterns of DEB at levels as low as “at least once over the last year” persist for periods as long as ten years [3], and predict compromised physical and emotional health [4] and short and long-term weight gain [5]. In the study described here we test the hypothesis that DEB are correlated with level of tobacco and alcohol use in young adult Mexican American (MA) women, a pattern of risk behaviors demonstrated in both clinical and community based majority samples.…”