Dufour Rachel, Breton Édith, Morin Alexandre J S, Côté Sylvana M, Dubois Lise, Vitaro Frank, Boivin Michel, Tremblay Richard E, Booij Linda
Sainte-Justine Hospital Research Centre, Montreal, Canada.
Department of Psychology, Concordia University, Montreal, Canada.
J Eat Disord. 2023 Oct 13;11(1):183. doi: 10.1186/s40337-023-00902-z.
Cross-sectional studies have shown that hyperactivity and impaired executive functioning are associated with symptoms of eating disorders in adolescence and adulthood. Whether hyperactivity and executive functions in early life can prospectively predict the emergence of eating disorder symptoms in adolescence remains unknown. The present study relies on a longitudinal design to investigate how hyperactivity at age 3, eating behaviours at age 3.5 and cognition at ages 3-6 were associated with the development of eating-disorder symptoms from 12 to 20 years old.
Using archival data collected since 1997 from the Quebec Longitudinal Study of Child Development cohort (N = 2, 223), we used Latent Curve Models to analyse predictors of youth's trajectories of eating-disorder symptoms at four timepoints.
A quadratic (curvilinear) trajectory of eating-disorder symptoms was found to be most representative of the data. Higher hyperactivity at age 3 was associated with higher levels of eating-disorder symptoms at age 12, and this association was partially mediated by higher levels of overeating and cognitive inflexibility in childhood. Cognitive inflexibility in childhood also mediated the association between hyperactivity at age 3 and increases in eating-disorder symptoms during adolescence. Furthermore, working memory was indirectly related to eating-disorder symptoms via the mediational role of cognitive flexibility.
Hyperactivity, overeating, cognitive inflexibility, and working memory early in life might precede the onset of eating-disorder symptoms in adolescence. Early behavioural and cognitive screening may help to identify children who are most at risk for eating disorders. This, in turn, could guide preventive interventions.
横断面研究表明，多动和执行功能受损与青少年及成年期饮食失调症状相关。早年的多动和执行功能是否能前瞻性地预测青少年饮食失调症状的出现仍不清楚。本研究采用纵向设计，以调查3岁时的多动、3.5岁时的饮食行为以及3至6岁时的认知与12至20岁饮食失调症状发展之间的关联。
利用自1997年以来从魁北克儿童发展纵向研究队列（N = 2223）收集的档案数据，我们使用潜在曲线模型分析了四个时间点青少年饮食失调症状轨迹的预测因素。
发现饮食失调症状的二次（曲线）轨迹最能代表数据。3岁时多动程度较高与12岁时饮食失调症状水平较高相关，这种关联部分由儿童期较高的暴饮暴食水平和认知灵活性受损介导。儿童期的认知灵活性受损也介导了3岁时的多动与青少年期饮食失调症状增加之间的关联。此外，工作记忆通过认知灵活性的中介作用与饮食失调症状间接相关。
早年的多动、暴饮暴食、认知灵活性受损和工作记忆可能先于青少年饮食失调症状的发作。早期行为和认知筛查可能有助于识别饮食失调风险最高的儿童。这反过来可以指导预防性干预措施。
