Disordered eating among adolescents: Associations with sexual/physical abuse and other familial/psychosociaI factors

Objective: To examine associations between disordered eating behaviors and a range of familial/psychosocial factors, including sexual and physical abu se experiences, among adolescent girls and boys. Method: A statewide repres entative sample of 9,943 students in Grades 7, 9, and 7 7 in Connecticut co mpleted a comprehensive survey on adolescent health within their schools. T he present analysis focused on measures of disordered eating, sexual and ph ysical abuse, familial factors, peer support, and depressive symptoms. Resu lts: Youth at increased risk for disordered eating included those who perce ived family communication, parental caring, and parental expectations as lo w and those who reported sexual or physical abuse experiences. After adjust ing for differences in familial/psychosocial factors, associations between abuse experiences and disordered eating were weakened. However, youth who r eported sexual abuse were still at increased risk for disordered eating, ev en after adjusting for physical abuse, sociodemographics, and familial/psyc hosocial; factors (girls: odds ratio [OR] = 1.99, 95% confidence interval [ CI] = 1.51, 2.64; boys: OR = 4.88, 95% CI = 2.94, 8.10). Youth reporting ph ysical abuse were also at increased risk for disordered eating after adjust ing for sexual abuse, sociodemographics, and familial/psychosocial factors (girls: OR = 2.00, 95% Cl = 1.52, 2.62; boys: OR = 1.95, 95% CI = 1.26, 3.0 4). Discussion: The findings suggest that strong familial relationships may decrease the risk for disordered eating among youth reporting abuse experi ences, but both sexual and physical abuse are strong independent risk facto rs for disordered eating among both adolescent girls and boys. (C) 2000 by John Wiley ge Sons, Inc.