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An examination of the associations between pediatric loss of control eating, anxiety, and body composition in children and adolescents
- Source :
- Eating Behaviors. 30:109-114
- Publication Year :
- 2018
- Publisher :
- Elsevier BV, 2018.
-
Abstract
- Background Data on the link between anxiety and body composition in youth are mixed. Yet, anxiety and disordered eating are highly correlated. One pathway between anxiety and excess body weight and fat mass may be through loss of control (LOC) eating. We examined whether LOC eating mediated the relationship between anxiety and body composition in youth with and without overweight. Method Non-treatment-seeking youth (8–17 years) participated in studies examining weight and eating behaviors. Anxiety (child- and parent-report of child) and LOC eating were assessed by self-report questionnaires and interviews, respectively. Fat mass was assessed by dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry or air displacement plethysmography. Cross-sectional mediation models with bias-corrected bootstrap confidence intervals (CI) were conducted. Results 257 youth (12.91 ± 2.76 years; 52.5% female; BMI-z 0.93 ± 1.07) were studied. There was a significant indirect path between child-reported anxiety and both BMI-z (ab = .005, SE = 0.003, 95% CI = 0.001–0.01) and body fat mass (ab = 0.001, SE = 0.001, 95% CI ≤0.001–0.003) through the number of LOC episodes in the past month. No significant indirect paths through the number of LOC episodes was observed for parent-report of child anxiety on BMI-z (ab = 0.004, SE = 0.01, 95% CI = −0.01–0.03) or body fat mass (ab = 0.001, SE = 0.002, 95% CI = −0.002–0.01). No direct paths were observed between anxiety and body composition regardless of the informant. Discussion LOC eating appears to mediate the relationship of child-reported anxiety with body composition in non-treatment seeking boys and girls. Prospective data are needed to determine if anxiety promotes LOC eating that results in increased risk for excess body weight and fat gain.
- Subjects :
- Male
050103 clinical psychology
Mediation (statistics)
Adolescent
Prospective data
Anxiety
Overweight
Body weight
Article
Fat mass
Feeding and Eating Disorders
Eating
03 medical and health sciences
0302 clinical medicine
030225 pediatrics
medicine
Humans
0501 psychology and cognitive sciences
Disordered eating
Child
Internal-External Control
05 social sciences
Psychiatry and Mental health
Clinical Psychology
Cross-Sectional Studies
Increased risk
Body Composition
Female
Self Report
medicine.symptom
Psychology
Clinical psychology
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 14710153
- Volume :
- 30
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Eating Behaviors
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....c42d05411f90351422e029b3d58b51d5