Disordered eating

Disordered eating describes a variety of abnormal eating behaviors that, by themselves, do not warrant diagnosis of an eating disorder.

Disordered eating includes behaviors that are common features of eating disorders, such as:

Disordered eating also includes behaviors that are not characteristic of any eating disorder, such as:

Disordered eating can represent a change in eating patterns caused by other mental disorders (e.g. clinical depression), or by factors that are generally considered to be unrelated to mental disorders (e.g. extreme homesickness).

Certain factors among adolescents tend to be associated with disordered eating, including perceived pressure from parents and peers, nuclear family dynamic, body mass index, negative affect (mood), self-esteem, perfectionism, drug use, and participation in sports that focus on leanness. These factors are similar among boys and girls alike. However, the reported incidence rates of are consistently and significantly higher in female than male participants, with 61% of females and 28% of males reporting disordered eating behaviors in a study of over 1600 adolescents.

The nuclear family dynamic of an adolescent plays a large part in the formation of their psychological, and thus behavioral, development. A research article published in the Journal of Adolescence concluded that, “…while families do not appear to play a primary casual role in eating pathology, dysfunctional family environments and unhealthy parenting can affect the genesis and maintenance of disordered eating.”

One study explored the connection between the disordered eating patterns of adolescents and the poor socio-emotional coping mechanisms of guardians with mental disorders. It was found that in homes of parents with mental health issues (such as depression or anxiety), the children living in these environments self-reported experiencing stressful home environments, parental withdrawal, rejection, unfulfilled emotional needs, or over-involvement from their guardians. It was hypothesized that this was directly related to adolescent study participants also reporting poor emotional awareness, expression, and regulation in relation to internalized/ externalized eating disordered habits. Parental anxiety/ depression could not be directly linked to disordered eating, but could be linked to the development of poor coping skills that can lead to disordered eating behaviors.

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Wikipedia