تعارض در اوایل دوران کودکی و اختلال خوردن نوجوانان:احساس ناامنی در مورد رابطه زناشویی به عنوان یک مکانیزم توضیحی

Disordered eating behaviors, including frequent dieting, unhealthy weight control behaviors (e.g., vomiting and skipping meals for weight loss) and binge eating are prevalent among adolescents. While negative, conflict-ridden family environments have long been implicated as problematic and a contributing factor to the development of disordered eating, few studies have examined the influence of marital conflict exposure in childhood to understand the development of these behaviors in adolescence. The current study investigates the impact of marital conflict, children's emotional insecurity about the marital relationship, and disordered eating behaviors in early adolescence in a prospective, longitudinal study of a community sample of 236 families in Midwest and Northeast regions of the U.S. Full structural mediation analyses utilizing robust latent constructs of marital conflict and emotional insecurity about the marital relationship, support children's emotional insecurity as an explanatory mechanism for the influence of marital conflict on adolescent disordered eating behaviors. Findings are discussed with important implications for the long-term impact of marital conflict and the development of disordered eating in adolescence.

Although estimates for eating disorders are relatively low with 2–3% of adolescents meeting criteria for diagnosis (Merikangas et al., 2010), sub-threshold levels of eating disorders, including frequent dieting, unhealthy weight control behaviors (e.g., vomiting and skipping meals for weight loss) and binge eating are prevalent among adolescents (Ackard & Neumark-Sztainer, 2003). Indeed, a disturbing proportion of adolescents report engaging in unhealthy eating behaviors that are clinically severe but do not meet full DSM-IV diagnostic criteria for an eating disorder. A recent survey of a representative national sample suggests that one in five healthy or underweight adolescents in the U.S. report trying to lose weight (Eaton et al., 2012). Another ethnically-diverse population-based sample reported that 33% of U.S. adolescents presented with body image disturbances, 11% conveyed recurrent purging behaviors (e.g., vomiting, use of laxatives, and excessive exercise), and 7% indicated out of control binge-eating (Ackard, Fulkerson, & Neumark‐Sztainer, 2007). Though such sub-clinical disordered eating behaviors appear prevalent, few studies have examined the development of these behaviors in community samples (Swanson, Crow, Le Grange, Swendsen, & Merikangas, 2011).