Discipline of Psychology, School of Population Health, Curtin University, Perth, WA, Australia.
Medical School, Curtin University, Perth, WA, Australia.
Eat Weight Disord. 2022 Dec;27(8):3257-3266. doi: 10.1007/s40519-022-01454-y. Epub 2022 Jul 30.
Childhood trauma is associated with increased risk of obesity during adulthood, which may be associated with the development of food addiction. This study examined whether food addiction mediated the relationship between childhood trauma and obesity in young adults.
A sample of 512 young adults, aged 18 to 30 years, living with overweight and obesity (Body Mass Index ≥ 25 kg/m), from the United Kingdom participated in the study. Participants completed the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ), the Yale Food Addiction Scale, and provided their current height and weight to compute their Body Mass Index (BMI).
Using the PROCESS macro, a mediation analysis found that food addiction accounted for 45% of variance in the relationship between childhood trauma and BMI. Post hoc analyses were conducted to examine the mediating effect of food addiction across each of the five subscales of the CTQ (emotional/physical/sexual abuse and emotional/physical neglect). Food addiction accounted for 32% to 51% of the variance in the relationship between each CTQ subscale and BMI.
These findings suggest that experiences of childhood trauma are associated with the development of overweight and obesity during early adulthood and up to half of this relationship can be attributed to food addiction, which is likely used as a maladaptive coping mechanism in response to trauma. Young adults living with overweight and obesity who report experiences of childhood trauma may benefit from the support of clinical and counselling psychologists to improve their understanding of the underlying psychosocial factors that influence their eating behaviours.
Level V, cross-sectional analytic study.
童年创伤与成年期肥胖的风险增加有关，这可能与食物成瘾的发展有关。本研究旨在探讨食物成瘾是否在年轻人中介导了童年创伤与肥胖之间的关系。
本研究纳入了 512 名年龄在 18 至 30 岁之间、超重和肥胖（身体质量指数≥25kg/m）的英国年轻人。参与者完成了童年创伤问卷（CTQ）、耶鲁食物成瘾量表，并提供了他们的身高和体重，以计算他们的身体质量指数（BMI）。
使用 PROCESS 宏进行中介分析发现，食物成瘾解释了童年创伤与 BMI 之间关系的 45%的变异。进一步进行了事后分析，以检验 CTQ 的五个子量表（情感/身体/性虐待和情感/身体忽视）中食物成瘾的中介效应。食物成瘾解释了 CTQ 每个子量表与 BMI 之间关系的 32%至 51%的变异。
这些发现表明，童年创伤经历与年轻人成年早期超重和肥胖的发展有关，其中一半的关系可以归因于食物成瘾，这可能是对创伤的一种适应不良的应对机制。报告有童年创伤经历的超重和肥胖的年轻人可能受益于临床和咨询心理学家的支持，以提高他们对影响其饮食行为的潜在心理社会因素的理解。
五级，横断面分析研究。
