Which came first?, bulimia and emotional symptoms: a cross-lagged panel analysis

• Xiumei Hou ^[1] ; Guoping Wang ^[6] ; Hongjun Wang ^[2] ; Jindong Liu ^[6] ; Wei Liu ^[6] ; Shiyun Ji ^[7] ; Enna Wang ^[3] ; Diyang Qu ^[4] ; Jieyi Hu ^[5]
  1. [1] Weihai Municipal Hospital

     Weihai Municipal Hospital

     China

     
  2. [2] Shandong Mental Health Center

     Shandong Mental Health Center

     China

     
  3. [3] Tianjin University

     Tianjin University

     China

     
  4. [4] Tsinghua University

     Tsinghua University

     China

     
  5. [5] Jinan University

     Jinan University

     China

     
  6. [6] Third people's Hospital of Heze City, Heze, China
  7. [7] City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, P. R. China

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• Localización: International journal of clinical and health psychology, ISSN 1697-2600, Vol. 22, Nº. 3, 2022, págs. 101-110
• Idioma: inglés
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  • Purpose Researchers have found growing evidence for the comorbidity link between bulimia and emotional symptoms among Chinese female youth. However, the prospective effect of one on the other is still unclear. Therefore, a cross-lagged model was used to examine the possible underlying mechanism between bulimia and two typical emotional problems (i.e., anxiety symptoms and depressive symptoms), respectively, in the present study.

    Methods A total of 471 female college students participated in the three waves of the present study. Self-reported questionnaires were delivered to assess their bulimia, anxiety symptoms, and depressive symptoms.

    Results After controlling for earlier levels of symptoms, our finding indicated that anxiety symptoms triggered more bulimia symptoms from Time 1 to Time 2. In turn, the reciprocal cycles occurred between anxiety symptoms and bulimia symptoms from Time 2 to Time 3. More interestingly, a similar pattern was found between depressive symptoms and bulimia.

    Conclusions The persistence and reciprocal cycle between bulimia and emotional symptoms are worthy of attention. Specifically, female youth with higher levels of emotional symptoms appear to be more profound at high risk for eating-related problems afterward. Further eating-related intervention programs may also need to take the level of female youth's emotional symptoms into consideration.