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Eating disorders have early origins, and there could be a continuum between childhood eating behaviors, such as overeating, and long-term disordered eating, but this remains to be shown. BMI, desire for thinness and peer victimization could influence this continuum, but their interactions are unknown. To fill this gap, the study used data from the Quebec Longitudinal Study of Child Development (N = 1511; 52% girls), in which 30.9% of youth presented a trajectory associated with high disordered eating from 12 to 20 years. The results support an indirect association between overeating at age 5 and disordered eating trajectories, with different mediation processes observed between boys and girls. The findings underscore the importance of promoting healthy body images and eating behaviors among youths. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although treatment dropout is common among patients with eating disorders, very few studies have examined predictors of non‐completion in day treatment. We investigated various potential predictors of dropout from adult day treatment. Participants were 295 adult patients with a diagnosis of Anorexia Nervosa (restricting or binge‐eating/purging subtype), Bulimia Nervosa (BN), Other Specified Feeding or Eating Disorder, or Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder. Predictors included eating‐disorder characteristics, motivation at the commencement of treatment, Body Mass Index (BMI), time spent in treatment and personality dimensions. Logistic regression analyses showed that for patients with a BMI of less than 20 at the start of treatment, low BMI was a significant predictor of staff‐initiated termination due to not meeting weight gain goals. Furthermore, completing less than 6 weeks of treatment was associated with staff‐initiated termination. For the whole sample, those with higher changes in weight over the course of treatment were less likely to terminate prematurely. None of the other predictor variables yielded significant results. Results of the current study highlight characteristics of patients who are more likely not to complete day treatment and can help identify patients who may be at risk for not succeeding in multi‐diagnostic day treatment programs. Highlights: For patients attending day treatment, low BMI at the start of treatment was a significant predictor of staff‐initiated discharge in participants who entered the program with a BMI < 20For all patients, larger changes in BMI over the course of treatment predicted higher likelihood of completing treatmentResults can help identify which patients may be at risk for not succeeding in multi‐diagnostic day treatment programs and address this risk in the transition to a higher level of care from lower levels [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]