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Examining a momentary mediation model of appearance-related stress, anxiety, and eating disorder behaviors in adult anorexia nervosa

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Eating and Weight Disorders - Studies on Anorexia, Bulimia and Obesity Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

Appearance-related stress may result from appearance-focused events such as seeing one’s reflection, seeing media images, and shopping for clothes. The purpose of this study was to examine the prospective association between momentary appearance-related stress and eating disorder (ED) behaviors (i.e., binge eating and vomiting) among women with anorexia nervosa (AN) using ecological momentary assessment (EMA). We hypothesized that appearance-related stress at Time 1 would predict binge eating and vomiting at Time 2, and that this prospective association would be mediated by momentary anxiety at Time 2 (controlling for anxiety at Time 1).

Methods

Women with AN completed a 2-week EMA protocol involving repeated daily assessments of experiences and behaviors.

Results

Momentary appearance-related stress preceded binge eating and vomiting, and momentary anxiety mediated the prospective association between appearance-related stress and ED behaviors.

Conclusions

Targeted momentary interventions delivered in the natural environment that address appearance-related stress may have utility in the treatment of ED behaviors.

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Funding

This work was supported by Grants R01MH059674 and T32MH082761 from the National Institute of Mental Health.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Clinical Research, Neuropsychiatric Research Institute, 120 8th Street S, Fargo, ND, 58103, USA

    Tyler B. Mason, Jason M. Lavender, Stephen A. Wonderlich, Ross D. Crosby, Scott G. Engel & James E. Mitchell

  2. Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science, University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Fargo, ND, USA

    Tyler B. Mason, Jason M. Lavender, Stephen A. Wonderlich, Ross D. Crosby, Scott G. Engel & James E. Mitchell

  3. Department of Psychiatry, University of Minnesota Medical School, Minneapolis, MN, USA

    Scott J. Crow & Carol B. Peterson

  4. The Emily Program, St. Paul, MN, USA

    Scott J. Crow & Carol B. Peterson

  5. Department of Psychiatry, University of California San Francisco School of Medicine, San Francisco, CA, USA

    Daniel Le Grange

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  1. Tyler B. Mason
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Correspondence to Tyler B. Mason.

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The authors have no conflicts of interest to report.

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Mason, T.B., Lavender, J.M., Wonderlich, S.A. et al. Examining a momentary mediation model of appearance-related stress, anxiety, and eating disorder behaviors in adult anorexia nervosa. Eat Weight Disord 23, 637–644 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40519-017-0404-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40519-017-0404-y

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