Predictors of eating psychopathology in adolescent girls

As part of a prospective study of the development of eating symptomatology, adolescent girls completed measures of eating attitudes and self-esteem. At two-year follow-up, the predictive validity of those measures was tested. Abnormal eating attitudes at baseline predicted both unhealthy eating attitudes and partial syndrome eating disorder (PSED) at follow-up. Poor self-esteem at baseline predicted unhealthy eating attitudes, but was not significantly associated with PSED. The results suggest that measures of both eating attitudes and self-esteem have potential value as screening instruments for subsequent eating problems, assisting in targeting intervention at an early stage.