Longitudinal transactions between negative urgency and fasting predict binge eating

Prevention of eating disorders: 2024 in review

This review of 20 prevention-related publications in Eating Disorders during 2024 is framed by three models: (1) Mental Health Intervention Spectrum: health promotion ➔ types of prevention ➔ case identification/referral for treatment; (2) the prevention cycle: rationale and theory, shaped by critical reviews ➔ clarifying risk and protective factors ➔ program innovation and feasibility studies ➔ efficacy and effectiveness research ➔ program dissemination; and (3) definitions of and links between eating disorder psychopathology, disordered eating behavior, and eating disorders. Nine articles were in the category of prevention rationale (including screening studies) and gaps/shortcomings in the prevention field; three addressed correlates and putative risk factors for eating pathology; and eight articles involved creation, adaptation, or upscaling of programs: three pilot projects, one efficacy study, and four investigations of effectiveness. Seven implications for prevention improvement are presented. For example, because multidimensional sociocultural factors are of paramount importance to risk for the spectrum of disordered eating, all forms of prevention should be designed, from the outset, to establish and maintain non-hierarchical, participatory collaboration between academic researchers and inclusive groups of stakeholders. In this process, it is essential to include people (including academic researchers) whose voices are typically ignored (e.g. LGBTQ+ people of color, low income and unmarried working mothers, and adolescents of ages 11 through 14).

Examining negative urgency as a predictor of eating disorder maintenance in purging syndromes

OBJECTIVES

Negative urgency is associated with short-term maintenance of binge eating and purging in unselected samples. The current study used an eating disorder sample to test the hypothesis that negative urgency maintains bulimia nervosa (BN) and purging disorder (PD) at long-term follow-up. It was also hypothesized that baseline differences in negative urgency between BN and PD would remain at follow-up.

METHODS

Secondary analyses were conducted on a sample of women who engaged in recurrent self-induced vomiting (n = 68; 52.9% BN; 47.1% PD). Women completed diagnostic interviews and questionnaires at baseline and at a mean (SD) of 5.95 (1.58) years follow-up (range = 2.51-9.62; retention rate = 75%).

RESULTS

Negative urgency did not predict eating disorder diagnostic status, recovery status, or global eating pathology at follow-up (p's = .06-.83). There were no significant differences in negative urgency across women with BN and PD at follow-up (p = .16). However, post hoc analyses indicated that negative urgency was not stable across time (ICC = .102). Increases in negative urgency from baseline to follow-up were associated with greater global eating pathology at follow-up (p = .002).

CONCLUSION

Results suggest negative urgency does not predict long-term eating disorder maintenance. Negative urgency may not be a stable personality trait but rather an indicator of overall poor emotion regulation. Future research should confirm that changes in negative urgency predict chronic eating pathology over long durations of follow-up in women who have increasing negative urgency across time.