Associations among alexithymia, disordered eating, and depressive symptoms in treatment-seeking adolescent military dependents at risk for adult binge-eating disorder and obesity

Rice, A., Lavender, J. M., Shank, L. M., Higgins Neyland, M. K., Markos, B., Repke, H., Haynes, H., Gallagher-Teske, J., Schvey, N. A., Sbrocco, T., Wilfley, D. E., Ford, B., Ford, C. B., Jorgensen, S., Yanovski, J. A., Haigney M., Klein, D. A., Quinlan, J., & Tanofsky-Kraff, M. (2022). Associations among alexithymia, disordered eating, and depressive symptoms in treatment-seeking adolescent military dependents at risk for adult binge-eating disorder and obesity. Eating and Weight Disorders - Studies on Anorexia, Bulimia and Obesity, 27, 3083-3093. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40519-022-01429-z

This study examined whether the associations between alexithymia (i.e., difficulty identifying and describing feelings) and disordered eating attitudes (e.g., restraint, eating concern) or emotional eating (e.g., eating due to feeling depressed) were explained by depressive symptoms within a sample of 149 military adolescents. Adolescents’ disordered eating attitudes were assessed via interviews, while other constructs (i.e., two aspects of alexithymia, emotional eating, depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, and demographics such as age and sex) were assessed via self-report questionnaires . Overall, adolescents who experienced alexithymia tended to have more depressive symptoms and, in turn, more severe disordered eating attitudes.

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