Executive functions and depressive symptoms interplay in binge eating disorder: A structural equation model analysis

Abstract

Objective: Executive functions (EF) have been so far investigated as potential endophenotypes for binge eating disorder (BED). However, major critical limitations in previous research, such as the influence of obesity and comorbid depression, prevented any consensus to be reached. The present study investigated the association between depressive symptoms, a broad range of EF and binge eating severity in individuals with obesity and with/without BED, and whether this association may be explained by a mediation or independency model. Method:One hundred and seven participants completed clinical and psychometric examination. Associations between EF, depressive symptoms and binge eating severity were assessed through bivariate correlation analysis, and the magnitude, as well as the direction of associations between variables, was estimated with structural equation model. Results: Two reliable models were tested; results showed that depressive symptoms exhibited significant direct and indirect effects on the severity of binge eating; conversely, EF did not show either significant direct or indirect effect on binge eating severity. Conclusion: Depression contributes more than EF to psychopathology of BED. Thus, clinicians should routinely assess and, eventually, tailor depressive symptoms in treatment to improve the outcomes of patients with BED.

Integrative review on psychological and social risk and prevention factors of eating disorders including anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa: seven major theories

“…(2013) found that executive dysfunctions were restricted to only a small number of women with disordered eating in their sample of 106 inpatients. These mixed findings indicate that the role of cognitive impairments in clinical and subclinical disordered eating symptomatology is somewhat uncertain at present Rania et al. (2021) .…”

An Analysis on the Influencing Factors of Learning Motivation Based in the Teaching Blending Online and Offline: The Mediating Role of Self-efficacy and Task value

“…Structural equation model [13] is a multivariate statistical method that uses linear equations to express the causal relationship between variables based on the covariance matrix of variables. It includes two parts: the measurement model and the structural model.…”

Executive Functions of Adults with Binge-Eating Disorder: The Role of Weight Status and Psychopathology

“…The only study systematically analyzing group differences in EFs of individuals with BED as a function of depressive symptoms (no to mild symptoms versus moderate to severe symptoms) did not find more impaired EFs with increasing level of depression in neurocognitive tasks, but in self-reported EFs in daily life [ 19 ]. Accordingly, a recent study in n = 66 adults with BED demonstrated significant correlations between self-reported depressive symptoms and lower cognitive flexibility, as measured by the Trail Making Test and the Wisconsin Card Sorting Task [ 24 ]. Regarding eating disorder psychopathology, with high levels being characteristic for BED [ 1 , 25 ], significant correlations were found with worse response inhibition as well as with higher attentional bias towards food in women with BED and weight-matched controls [ 10 , 26 ].…”